TikTok Shop Wants to Be More Than a Sales Channel, Marketers Say

Searches for #GiftsForWomen jumped 440% month over month in September, according to TikTok — and the platform wants brands to treat that attention as more than a sales trigger.

The figures came as TikTok Shop prepared its Black Friday Cyber Monday campaign, scheduled to run November 11 through November 30. Ahead of it, TikTok hosted an event for press and creators in New York, where brands including e.l.f. Beauty and seller Jewelry Television (JTV) laid out how they use live shopping for long-term brand-building, not just transactions.

That's a notable framing for a channel that, since its US launch three years ago, has largely been viewed as either a discovery tool or a distribution-driven sales platform, as Business of Fashion reported.

"Live, yes, it can drive revenue, but it can also drive real-time cultural conversation," Kelly Shah-McDonnell, VP of global connected commerce at e.l.f. Brands, said onstage at the event. "We look at live-selling as an edutainment opportunity."

How do brands use TikTok Shop beyond selling?

For e.l.f., the platform works as "a demand-generation and discovery engine," Shah-McDonnell said. That shifts what the brand chooses to promote there.

She said e.l.f. prioritizes products that resonate with audiences who may not know exactly what they're looking for yet. "How we look at TikTok Shop specifically is launching new innovation that surprises and delights our audience," she said, adding that promotion and discount messaging often takes a back seat to limited-edition and unexpected product releases.

The takeaway in plain words: on TikTok Shop, novelty beats discounts.

What role does storytelling play?

Kelly Pike, VP of multimedia at JTV, said several elements need to work together on TikTok Shop — the brand's shop presence on the platform, the live-shopping streams themselves, and who actually goes live. When those pieces run in tandem, impact can extend beyond driving sales.

"This is less about funnel, and more that that is happening at the same time now across all of those arms," Pike said onstage. "When you're looking into that with a strategy and leverage that, is when you really see the growth."

Other brands are testing new storytelling formats. Earlier this year, footwear brand Crocs debuted a TikTok microdrama, Déjà Shoe, which incorporated TikTok Shop product tagging directly into episodes to encourage conversion.

The short version: treat the channel as one connected story, not a funnel stage.

Do smaller creators carry more weight?

Shah-McDonnell said storytelling from an affiliate TikTok Shop user or live host may achieve something a larger influencer can't. When a TikTok Shop creator talks about their everyday experience with the brand, there's a chance consumers listen more closely.

That argument lands just as holiday demand peaks: with #HolidayDecor up 97% and #HolidayGiftIdeas up 248% month over month in September, per TikTok, brands that pair discovery-stage content with live shopping have a crowded, receptive audience to work with through November 30.