TikTok users aren’t sold on TikTok Shop

The insight: TikTok’s aggressive push to grow its ecommerce business is hurting user engagement.

• Users interacted with 2.7% of regular videos posted by the 120 influencers tracked by Captiv8 but just 1.4% of their Shop posts, according to a study conducted by Captiv8 for Fortune.
• The results of the study track with data from Sensor Tower that found TikTok’s user growth slowing around the time it began leaning into ecommerce.

Why it matters: So far, TikTok Shop is proving to be a mixed bag.

On the one hand, certain categories—most notably beauty—are performing strongly.

• The most popular item on TikTok Shop, GuruNanda Coconut and Mint Pulling Oil, is selling over 100,000 units per week; to date, shoppers have purchased 1.2 million units on the app, per Marketplace Pulse.
• As of November, TikTok Shop was the US’ 12th largest beauty and personal care ecommerce retailer, according to a study by Dash Hudson and NielsenIQ.

On the other hand, the platform has a counterfeit problem.

• A recent video that purported to sell Apple’s AirPods Max headphones for a mere $16—97% off the retail price—received 3.8 million views and led to 32,700 sales before TikTok took it down (which only happened after Bloomberg columnist Dave Lee flagged it to the company).
• TikTok Shop’s moderation struggles are a significant barrier to its ecommerce ambitions, as they could keep brands from selling on the platform and deter users from making purchases.

The big takeaway: If any platform can make social commerce happen, it’s likely to be TikTok, given its proven ability to mint trends and drive sales—not to mention the sterling example sister app Douyin has set in China.

But it has significant hurdles to clear before it can become a major ecommerce player, including making sure that its shopping ambitions don’t get in the way of the user experience and cleaning up its marketplace.

Go further: Check out our latest Social Commerce Forecast.