When BeautyMatter last sat down with TikTok’s beauty team at our NEXT Summit in October 2023, TikTok Shop was barely a month old—an intriguing experiment that left many legacy beauty executives scratching their heads and on the sidelines, waiting to see how the platform evolved. Fast forward 18 months, and TikTok Shop has surged to become the eighth-largest beauty retailer in the US, according to NielsenIQ, with growth outpacing even digital giants like Shein and Sephora. What was once a curiosity has now become a competitive imperative, especially within beauty.At last month’s Shoptalk in Las Vegas, we had the opportunity to do a quick check-in with Ajay Salpekar, GM of Beauty at TikTok Shop US. TikTok’s presence at the conference was a major focal point of excitement and intrigue—from their show floor booth that was perpetually mobbed with brands and creators looking for insights on how to capture some of the magic of the platform for their own audiences to TikTok-themed talks that were standing-room-only.Despite the specter of political uncertainty in the US, what is certain is that brands seem largely unconcerned; they are more focused on how TikTok and TikTok Shop fit into their omnichannel marketing and growth strategies in a beauty landscape that has become increasingly consolidated and competitive. The beauty shopper doesn’t seem too concerned either, given that, according to the company, since launch, the number of people shopping on the platform every month has nearly tripled. “TikTok Shop has been an absolute game-changer for the industry,” said Salpekar.