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TikTok<\/strong> <\/strong>showed up in force at Shoptalk last week, and the company was on a mission, although not<\/em> the one that might have been expected \u2014 namely, to convince people that it has a future in the U.S.<\/p>\n Quick side note on that hairy topic: TikTok is presenting the resolution of the years-long battle over its presence and influence in the U.S. as a foregone conclusion (that is, that it\u2019s here stay). However, there was very little discussion about the particulars given the confidential nature of the ongoing negotiations. All Adolfo Fern\u00e1ndez, TikTok\u2019s Global Head of Commerce Product Strategy and Operations would tell Retail TouchPoints<\/em> is that \u201cwe\u2019re not worried about the future at all,\u201d <\/strong>and, in fact, he\u2019s \u201cmotivated and excited\u201d about what\u2019s ahead for the company in America<\/strong>.<\/p>\n While TikTok executives weren\u2019t able to discuss details like the company\u2019s ownership and data governance, they did want to clarify one really important point \u2014 TikTok is not <\/em>a social media platform, and therefore what happens on the platform is not<\/em> \u201csocial commerce.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n This point was emphasized multiple times by TikTok executives at the event, both on and off the stage. TikTok considers itself, and wants to be known as, an entertainment platform<\/strong>, with \u00a0\u201cdiscovery commerce\u201d as the preferred description for the types of transactions that happen within its realm.<\/p>\n Fern\u00e1ndez makes a compelling argument for this distinction, which essentially boils down to the fact that the content served to people on TikTok is not based on what your friends on the platform have liked or viewed, but rather what its famously good algorithm<\/strong> thinks you as an individual will like. That means the content you see is not based on or featuring content from your connections, but rather is primarily that of creators<\/strong> \u2014 and importantly, users are interacting with the content<\/em>, not with other users. This, according to Fern\u00e1ndez, makes the platform more of a \u201ccreator-based discovery engine\u201d than a traditional social media platform.<\/p>\n \u201cThe key differentiator of social is you basically interact with different users \u2014 with your friends, with your family. [However], on TikTok, the For You page is not based on what your audience is [viewing] or on what your friends have watched; it\u2019s based on what you like and what you engage with, and the more you engage with it, the more you get,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s the key differentiator that we have, and that\u2019s the reason why we don\u2019t want to put that label on our platform \u2014 it fences us in to something that we are not.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n CI&T\u2019s Melissa Minkow thinks this argument holds water: \u201cI\u2019m personally confident that this distinction is why [TikTok] has led to such strong sales for brands,\u201d she posted on LinkedIn, following a session where TikTok\u2019s General Manager of U.S. Commerce Amy Oelkers made a similar argument to that of Fern\u00e1ndez. \u201cConsumers don\u2019t feel they\u2019re being sold to at all when scrolling, they\u2019re purely being entertained.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n The way shopping has evolved on the platform is evidence of this. As Fern\u00e1ndez described it, product strategy (that is, development of features on the platform) are driven by user behavior. So when the <\/strong>#TikTokMadeMeBuyIt hashtag<\/strong> started to crop up organically<\/strong>, that was a very clear indication that users were demanding commerce functionality.<\/strong> Fern\u00e1ndez, by the way, swears that hashtag truly was completely organic, something he said even he was surprised to learn when he joined the company two<\/strong> years ago from Google<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cSomething this company does phenomenally well is understand user engagement and bring it into our product stack in a matter of three to six<\/strong> months,\u201d he said. \u201cThere was a clear signal from the market that people were not coming [to TikTok] just to get entertained, to get educated, to get informed \u2014 they actually were also coming to shop.\u201d<\/p>\n Thousands<\/strong> of merchants are now selling on TikTok Shop, and Fern\u00e1ndez said that shoppers have tripled every single month since the offering launched <\/strong>in 2023<\/strong>. Not to mention that TikTok Shop has generated financial opportunity for millions<\/strong> of creators through its affiliate-based sales model. And as Minkow pointed out, brands are seeing real traction in their investments on the platform, whether they\u2019ve set up a Shop or not.<\/p>\n \u201cMore and more merchants are coming to the platform,\u201d said Fern\u00e1ndez. \u201cFrom a shopper perspective, user engagement is there. And then the third component, which is, again, what makes us different from other social platforms, is the creator side of things. When you combine that triangle, it\u2019s a very valuable proposition, but it\u2019s not a social [one].<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n At a certain point, aren\u2019t we just splitting hairs though? Why does it matter so much whether the business world thinks of TikTok as a social media or an entertainment platform?<\/p>\n Perhaps it\u2019s a question of prestige; after all, nothing quite beats the stature of America\u2019s bastions of entertainment like Hollywood and Broadway, even if they are sometimes framed as dinosaurs that have been too slow to move with the times.<\/p>\n Or perhaps it\u2019s more about inherent worthiness in a world where social media has come to be seen as a kind of villain. Is this the beginning of TikTok\u2019s post-purchase-that-hasn\u2019t-happened-yet-but-is-rumored-to-be-imminent strategy? A charm campaign that proves to the world why and how it\u2019s different from much-maligned counterparts like Meta<\/strong>?<\/p>\n Whether TikTok agrees or not, it is difficult to avoid bucketing it in with other similar (although, sure, not the same) platforms wherein consumers engage with one another and the world primarily through a social lens, as opposed to other forms of media where the consumption dynamic is more one-way (TV, theater, publishing, etc.).<\/p>\n We humans, and Americans especially, have a need to categorize and define our world, and for that reason, it\u2019s hard to believe that the company will be successful in convincing anyone that it\u2019s not firmly in the social media category.<\/p>\n I think perhaps that the problem is not with how we define TikTok, but rather with how we define the types of commerce that are happening in digital environments today.<\/strong> \u201cSocial commerce\u201d is not expansive enough to describe what\u2019s happening on TikTok, or for that matter many other realms of the internet. TikTok likes \u201cdiscovery commerce,\u201d but that term feels to me a bit too<\/em> expansive. After all, all commerce happens after some period of discovery, so in that sense, all shopping is discovery commerce.<\/p>\n Walmart has introduced the idea of \u201cadaptive retail\u201d \u2014 commerce experiences that adapt to consumers wherever they are, digital or physical \u2014 but that term \u201cadaptive\u201d is already so closely aligned with the new-ish category of products designed for the oft-forgotten category of consumers with special needs that it\u2019s hard to disconnect the association in my brain.<\/p>\n I myself prefer \u201cimmersive commerce,\u201d also a term I encountered via Walmart, specifically Walmart\u2019s Head of Brand Marketing Innovation Justin Breton, who also shortened it \u201ciCommerce.\u201d To me, this term most acurately describes this exciting new era of shopping, with commerce opportunities integrated into everything we do in our daily life \u2014 watching TV, playing video games, scrolling social media or even strolling down the street and seeing something we love that we then find online via visual search. What could be more appealing, for merchants and brands, than finding new ways to actually immerse <\/em>commerce into the day-to-day life of everyone, everywhere, all at once?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nTikTok: Not Social Media, Entertainment<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n
If Not Social Commerce, then What?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
What\u2019s in a Name? A Tiny Dose of Editorial Speculation.<\/strong><\/h2>\n
An Appeal: Let\u2019s Start Talking About \u2018Immersive Commerce\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n