TikTok Shop FMCG sales: summary
- TikTok drives food trends and explosive sales across FMCG categories
- Gen Z adoption can overwhelm supply chains and trigger food shortages
- TikTok Shop structures FMCG sales through discovery led social commerce
- Ninety three percent engage and eighty eight percent discover brands
- Full funnel loops and two click checkout can accelerate FMCG purchases
Many food trends are born on social media, and increasingly TikTok is leading the charge.
But for food and drink brands, it’s no longer about blindly posting a video and hoping it will go viral. There is now real strategy at play.
From viral trend to sales channel
TikTok is not new to the food game. The platform has been instrumental in driving explosive sales of everything from matcha and Dubai chocolate to bubble tea, cottage cheese and hot honey.
If there’s a trend to be had, TikTok’s Gen Z users are quick to embrace it – sometimes to the point of overwhelming supply chains and triggering shortages.
But these days, the platform is facilitating FMCG sales in a far more structured way through TikTok Shop – which the company says is unlike any other e-commerce channel on the market.
With more than one billion monthly users, TikTok does have the potential to offer unparalleled opportunities to FMCGs. The sales platform TikTok Shop, which has been operating for more than two years, also claims to offer something unique in the e-commerce space: discovery.
TikTok Shop is discovery commerce. Amazon is shopping-list mentality - you go in, buy, and leave
Faisal Al-Sabti, new business lead for FMCG, TikTok
“You’re scrolling in your downtime and you come across shoppable videos. You find products you didn’t plan to buy,” explains Faisal Al-Sabti, new business lead for FMCG at TikTok. “And that’s the difference.”
Big or small brand? ‘Your audience is on TikTok’
TikTok is confident all food and drink brands can attract new business via its sales channel. UK statistics suggest there is real growth potential for brands willing to engage.
By 2028, social commerce is estimated to be worth £16bn (€18.4bn). To date, 93% of TikTok users have engaged with TikTok shop, and of those who engage, 88% are discovering new brands.
Ultimately, a majority of people on TikTok are shopping. And that’s where the opportunity lies, for big and small brands alike. “TikTok shop isn’t just for challenger brands,” stresses Al-Sabti. “Regardless of your brand size or target demographic, your audience is on TikTok.”
Indeed, TikTok Shop has seen the likes of retailers like Sainsbury’s, M&S, Asda and Lidl use its platform for sales, alongside brands like PepsiCo-owned Walkers. “This is a place for everyone,” says the business development lead.
The secret sauce of TikTok success
If there were a ‘secret sauce’ of TikTok’s success, it wouldn’t be in the user numbers – although they count for a lot. Equally, it wouldn’t be in the platform’s ability to build brand awareness, although it undoubtedly does that too.
The power of TikTok is much broader, suggests Ema Delacote, business development manager for FMCG at the social media platform. “TikTok Shop is full funnel – discovery, consideration, purchase, and advocacy."
What she means is that once users buy, they often continue to engage. Whether that’s by making content, reviewing products, advocating organically, and ultimately, driving more discovery. “It becomes a loop.”
Successful brands are essentially building flywheels on the platform, Delacote explains, by engaging creators and consumers to amplify messaging.
Coupled with what she describes as TikTok’s frictionless path to purchase – it takes “two clicks” to make a purchase – and the potential for food and drink players is big.
“Once your address and payment are saved, it takes seconds. That’s powerful for FMCGs.”
