With enormous popularity since its launch in some countries, the Tiktok Shop application arrives in France on March 31 with its advantages and its share of concerns.
Will the future of e-commerce in France take place on Tiktok? This is certainly what Bytedance dreams of, Tiktok’s parent company is about to launch a new version of its flagship application for online trade.
Called “Tiktok Shop”, this application already exists in several countries like Spain or the United States. But it is especially in China that Tiktok Shop stands out thanks to its shopping format directly integrated into the application. A phenomenon called “Live Shopping” which represented more than $ 600 billion in transactions just in 2023.
France is therefore one of the next countries that will be able to take advantage of Tiktok Shop alongside Germany and Italy on March 31. An initiative implemented for several months according to Capital site information Who reports that Tiktok France already enabled several brands to register to offer the sale of their products within the application.
What is Tiktok Shop?
You have to understand that Tiktok Shop is not a new application, but a functionality directly available within Tiktok. Users will therefore not have to download anything except to update their version of the online videos application online.
So far, if a creator on Tiktok had a product, it was necessary to go through a link generally available in the description of the video or in the comments to be able to buy it. This link was generally tracked to allow the creator to receive a small part of the amount paid by the user.
Tiktok Shop makes it possible to get rid of this said link which was generally quite restrictive for several reasons: it made you leave the application, asked you to create an account on the product website and to enter your payment information. Tiktok Shop incorporates this whole process directly into the Tiktok application: you see a product that interests you in a video, you click on it and can buy it directly while enjoying certain options (especially clothing and colors).
Why should you be wary of Tiktok Shop?
Since his arrival in several countries, Tiktok Shop has been a real success that has largely democratized the live shopping phenomenon. Some influencers have even completely pivoted their activities towards real -time shopping, generally much more lucrative and interesting for brands, especially for cosmetics that are a hit on the application.
However, Tiktok Shop has not been free from criticism since its launch. Among the main ones, we remember in particular the arrival of many dropshipping brands or poor quality products highlighted by certain creators. Objects of counterfeits can also be presented as official and it is difficult to realize it before having the object in your hands (generally too late to see the deception).
To counter this, Tiktok France has already specified that brands must initially apply to offer their products within the application. The said brands are then selected and approved (or not) after various checks. The products ordered can also be the subject of feedback and have reports from users.
As for professionals, the arrival of Tiktok Shop is generally not very well perceived. The platform is accused of promoting compulsive purchases. The platform has notably explained that Tiktok would influence almost 70% of online compulsive purchases since its launch thanks to its hyper -powerful algorithm which quickly includes the interests and needs of users.