Published on

Style Theory: Is TikTok Shop the Next Amazon

Style Theory: Is TikTok Shop the Next Amazon?

TikTok just shut down thousands of small businesses overnight stealing thousands of dollars in the process and guess what? I'm on their side.

Hello Internet, welcome to Style Theory, your one-stop tea shop spilling the tea on all your favorite brands. Speaking of big brands doing big bads, you might have missed the huge news that's shaking up another platform right now: YouTube Shortz's older, more successful brother TikTok.

The TikTok Shop Shutdown

Here's the TLDR version of what's going down: back in November, right before the Black Friday rush, thousands of small business owners using TikTok shop to sell their products woke up to find that their accounts had either been shut down or suspended overnight. According to affected accounts, this move from TikTok was completely unprompted and without warning. These sellers were hit with enough violations of TikTok's terms of service that it completely froze their accounts and their funds.

We're talking about tens of thousands of dollars stuck behind TikTok's impenetrable force field. It's not certain exactly how many accounts were affected, but we're looking at least at a few thousand shops being shut down. This move didn't just affect the sellers; content creators who made posts promoting items from these shops also saw their accounts getting flagged and their videos taken down.

The Bright Side of the Shutdown

Now, that right there is a shady move, right? But what if I told you that by banning these accounts and withholding their profits, TikTok may have just saved these small business owners millions of dollars and made even more money for everyone else on the platform? Seems unbelievable, right? Well, it's true. In fact, it's a case that we've seen play out before.

To understand all of that, we first need to start with the most basic question: what the heck is a TikTok shop?

What is TikTok Shop?

TikTok Shop officially launched in the US and other countries in September of 2023. Basically, it lets users browse and purchase items directly from sellers without ever having to leave the app. While this isn't a new idea—Instagram's been doing this sort of thing for a while now with its Shopping Tab, and YouTube has the merch shelf—TikTok had a huge thing going for them: their algorithm.

Even if you've never used TikTok, the idea of the almighty algorithm shouldn't be unfamiliar to you. It's the reason you're watching this video right now. All the information stored in TikTok’s databases told it to put this video in front of your eyeballs because maybe you like me, or maybe you like my theories, or maybe you like TikTok drama.

The Almighty Algorithm

YouTube’s algorithm is good at delivering content that you like, but TikTok’s algorithm is just a wee bit better at what it's designed to do—get you addicted. Since launching in September, TikTok Shop is reportedly earning between $ 4 and $ 7 million a day. Compared to Amazon, which makes an estimated 2.9 billion dollars a day, TikTok is still small potatoes. But TikTok’s working with a secret weapon: the users.

The Problem with TikTok Shop

Still, there was one teeny tiny problem with TikTok Shop: it wasn’t ready. To be a successful e-commerce platform, you need three things: a responsible governing platform, responsible shoppers, and trustworthy sellers.

1. A Responsible Governing Platform: TikTok has a bad reputation for violating its own rules, making it unreliable. 2. Responsible Shoppers: TikTok’s vast young user base is susceptible to online scams. 3. Trustworthy Sellers: The openness of TikTok Shop invites bad actors to exploit the platform.

Drop Shippers, Dupers, and Copers

Here, we encounter the three kinds of sellers on TikTok Shop:

  1. Drop Shippers: These are glorified middlemen selling other people's goods as their own.
  2. Dupers: Sellers who market knockoff products as cheaper alternatives to well-known brands.
  3. Copers: Sellers blatantly using copyrighted work as part of their products.

These sellers are separate issues for the TikTok platform, each potentially bringing about legal trouble.

The TikTok Solution

To mitigate all the risks, TikTok had to enforce its own terms of service—resulting in the massive shop shutdown. Imagine the adpocalypse YouTube faced in 2017, where advertisers pulled out over concerns of their ads running on unsafe content. YouTube had to make sweeping changes to regain advertiser trust, and TikTok is going through a similar process now.

The Future of TikTok Shop

It's going to be a tough couple of years for creators and small business owners on TikTok as the system learns to function responsibly. In the meantime, creators need to adapt and demand better from the platform. TikTok will mess up, but it’s also the beginning of their journey to becoming a more mature, reliable platform.

But hey, that’s just a Theory—a Style Theory! Keep shopping smart!

Keywords

  • TikTok Shop
  • Algorithm
  • Responsible Governing Platform
  • Responsible Shoppers
  • Trustworthy Sellers
  • Drop Shippers
  • Dupers
  • Copers
  • Copyright Violation
  • Trade Dress
  • Adpocalypse
  • eCommerce

FAQ

Q: What is TikTok Shop? A: TikTok Shop is a feature launched in September 2023 that lets users browse and purchase items directly from sellers without ever leaving the app.

Q: How much does TikTok Shop earn? A: TikTok Shop is reportedly earning between $ 4 and $ 7 million a day.

Q: What are the main issues with TikTok Shop? A: The main issues are an irresponsible platform, vulnerable young shoppers, and untrustworthy sellers.

Q: What are Drop Shippers? A: Drop shippers are sellers who don’t keep products in stock but use third-party fulfillment centers to ship them once sold.

Q: What are Dupers? A: Dupers market knockoff products as cheaper alternatives to well-known brands.

Q: What are Copers? A: Copers are sellers who blatantly use copyrighted work as part of their products.

Q: Why did TikTok shut down thousands of shops? A: TikTok shut down thousands of shops to enforce its terms of service and avoid legal troubles from copyright violations.

Q: Is TikTok Shop the next Amazon? A: While TikTok Shop has potential due to its algorithm and user base, it still has a long way to go to reach Amazon’s level of e-commerce dominance.

Read More