Whether it’s cloud bread, whipped coffee, baked oats or feta pasta, TikTok is the birthplace of many a viral food trend that fill our feeds with captivating concoctions, luring us in to recreate these masterpieces in our own kitchens.
It’s no secret that TikTok presents the perfect platform for food brands looking to rake in the views. Just look at Little Moons, the Japanese mochi ice cream balls that garnered over 339 million views when it was trending in 2021, and a quick search of #FoodTok will reveal 26 billion videos of all sorts of recipes and hacks.
While ambient food products have been sold through the platform for some time, it has, until now, been relatively difficult for fresh food brands to convert TikTok views into sales. As of August 2022 the app has launched a new function whereby users can purchase fresh food directly from brands without leaving the app. Here’s everything you need to know…
So far, the TikTok Shop function has largely been dominated by those in the fashion, beauty and kitchen accessories space, but opening up the arena to fresh food brands presents a huge opportunity for small businesses that rely on online sales rather than having a listing with one of the mults. Not only do 79% of TikTok users discover new brands through the platform, but 54% have purchased a brand’s product after seeing it on TikTok – there’s a reason #tiktokmademebuyit has over 10 billion views – so there’s a real opportunity to tap into engaged users at their point of discovery.
Before getting started with a TikTok Shop, it is important for brands to get the basics right. That means nailing the bio, finding your place with the type of content that resonates with your audience and starting to see positive engagement levels which indicate that you’ll be able to shift product through the shop function. If you’ve got all of this down, TikTok Shop is the next logical step, and this is where you can start to make use of the platform to its full potential. We only need to look at Myprotein, Suntory and Crazy Candy Co. which all landed places in the top ten products sold on TikTok this summer thanks to well executed campaigns that promoted in-app purchases.
Once you’ve established your presence on TikTok, the platform makes it fairly easy for people to discover your brand, but it’s up to you to maximise this and convert views to sales. This is where collaborating with content creators can work wonders. Whether it’s running a live event with a TikTok influencer where viewers can make purchases, offering affiliate links and discount codes to those creators who you know your target audience follows, or jumping on trends with videos that put your brand front and centre, there are a host of tactics that can be implemented to build a campaign around driving sales through TikTok.
Could TikTok Shop change the face of modern retail? We are certainly going to have our eyes on the fresh food brands who are among the first to launch their shops on the platform, and we’ll be looking at our roster of fresh food clients to see which ones could benefit from a TikTok Shop campaign to coincide with the launch of the new feature.
If you’re interested in launching on TikTok, or getting started with the shopping function, drop us a line at hello@stormcom.co.uk
