Step aside, Charli D’Amelio and Khaby Lame. TikTok has a new type of influencer on its mind: the shopping star.
The company wants to prop up influencers who are uniquely gifted at selling goods on its app. Its “Star Creator” team focuses on finding and developing influencers who can drive sales in various product categories on its e-commerce tool, TikTok Shop, two sources who work with Shop-focused talent said. It’s hiring for several new roles in the US and UK for the group, including a “star creator manager” in London and a team lead focused on Shop creators who are good at selling fashion items, according to its jobs portal.
What are the benefits of being a Shop star?
TikTok offers these creators a direct line of communication with its in-house team and strategy tips on how to make commission-earning shopping videos. It also provides matchmaking services to connect creators with brands for free samples and other promotion opportunities.
Remy Beaumont, the founder and CEO of the TikTok Shop partner agency Gen Z Media, told Business Insider that some of his “Shop star” clients receive intel on best-selling products and exclusive opportunities from TikTok employees via a group chat on Lark, ByteDance’s messaging platform.
A TikTok spokesperson declined to comment for this story.
In recent months, TikTok has been putting tons of resources behind Shop to get the product off the ground, offering incentives and discounts to creators and merchants to encourage them to use the e-commerce tool. So far, it’s been successful at drawing in small and midsize businesses but has struggled to attract larger consumer brands.
Training creators to become selling machines may be a growth hack for the e-commerce newcomer as it looks to compete with incumbents such as Amazon. If TikTok influencers truly become shopping stars, similar to the selling celebrities of the past, including the Home Shopping Network’s Joy Mangano, it could help boost sales and make the platform more desirable for multinational brands.
“It’s almost as if they’re trying to prove the concept works to the big brands, to try and increase merchant onboarding,” Beaumont said.
E-commerce stars have helped Chinese apps make billions
The creator-as-a-salesperson playbook isn’t new to TikTok. Its Chinese sister app, Douyin, has leaned heavily on influencers, referred to in the country as “key opinion leaders,” to drive billions in sales. ByteDance, which owns both apps, often pushes successful features from Douyin to TikTok.
“They’re basically testing a whole bunch of things they know work in China, and they’re trying to figure out what’s the best one for this market,” Rick Watson, the CEO and founder of RMW Commerce Consulting, said.
TikTok has focused on formalizing the role of e-commerce influencers for months. When the content creator Sharon Jayy visited TikTok’s Culver City, California, office in June, the company talked about throwing its weight behind the “TikTok Shop creator” as a new type of influencer, similar to a dance star or a comedy personality, Jayy said.
“I’m thinking about marketing myself as a TikTok Shop creator,” Jayy told BI in July. “Every creator should jump on this early because it’s going to be saturated.”
Outside its in-house team, TikTok also deputizes official third-party TikTok Shop agency partners to work with creators and merchants on e-commerce strategies. It enlists a series of third-party coaches to help creators with livestream strategies, and the company offers advice to all affiliate creators on its website via its TikTok Shop Academy.
But putting direct resources behind helping the top-performing affiliate creators may help the company build its e-commerce business the fastest.
“What’s more likely to move the needle? Someone who is not popular or famous going on TikTok Shop and offering products, or someone who is very popular and famous now getting products?” Watson said. “I think the shortest path to more volume through TikTok Shop is really that second group.”
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