TikTok are starting to test TikTok Shop Plus in the US, which is immediately encouraging everyone to compare it to Amazon Prime. TikTok Shop Plus offers a range of benefits such as free shipping, product discounts, and coupons, but nothing is set in stone – TikTok are even testing price points with a range including monthly fees of $5.99, $9.99, and even $14.99.
TikTok Shop Plus is aiming to change buyer behaviour, and comes after the introduction of subscription models which in themselves are designed to convert shoppers from a one time purchase to a pattern of repeat purchases. You subscribe to regular deliveries of a product so it’s only natural you’d also be happy to pay for free deliveries for this and anything else you might want to buy.
And the big driver is that TikTok have basically been subsidising Amazon’s sales. When a product goes viral on TikTok, many consumers see it, think I’ve got to have that, and then flick over to their Amazon app to make the purchase.
Subscriptions build repeat purchase habits one product at a time, and generally only for consumables such as beauty or pet food that you’re going to buy regularly anyway. TikTok Shop Plus will enable to TikTok to test if they can change a repeat purchasing shopper into a regular one off shopper where having a free delivery plan will get them shopping more regularly for a wider range of products.
It’s unlikely that TikTok’s immediate goal is to become a replacement for Amazon Prime, and why would they? Who needs another site where anything from a computer mouse, to a Fire TV Stick or your favourite pack of nibbles can be delivered in hours if not minutes? What TikTok want is simply that once you’ve discovered a product on TikTok that you buy it on TikTok.
Product subscriptions, fulfilment for sellers, and now free shipping, product discounts, and coupons… TikTok are slowly adding in all the building bricks to make you not just want to shop on their discovery platform, but to make it easy and compelling to shop while you’re being entertained.
