TikTok Drives Offline Retail, Boosting Sales for Physical Stores
Recent research shows that TikTok has become a key link between online traffic and offline physical retail. Not only younger generations, but also older users are influenced by platform content to shop in physical stores. For cross-border sellers, this means TikTok Shop is not just an online sales channel, but also an essential tool for omnichannel marketing and increasing foot traffic to offline stores.
What are the key facts?
- 14.3 million UK consumers visited local independent shops due to TikTok
- 2TikTok Shop has over 300,000 SME sellers
- 3TikTok live shopping format grew 55% year-on-year
- 4Generated £3.4 billion in incremental sales for UK SMEs
What happened?
According to a recent report from EY and Public First, TikTok has significantly driven the recovery of physical retail in the UK market. Over 4.3 million consumers visited local shops after discovering them on TikTok. Currently, TikTok Shop has gathered more than 300,000 small and medium enterprises, with live shopping services growing by 55% year-on-year, generating an additional £3.4 billion in sales for UK SMEs.
What does this mean for cross-border sellers?
Sellers should consider integrating TikTok content strategies with offline operations, leveraging platform traffic to drive customers to physical stores or offline events for online-offline synergy.