TikTok has reshaped the trend landscape with infotainment and user-generated video driven by an algorithm that promotes content, creates virality, and quickly reaches millions of users. It's also impossible to tame.
While TikTok's future in the US may be uncertain, its influence on consumer behavior and Amazon isn't. Shoppers want to be entertained, they want to be engaged, they want to be surprised, and TikTok delivers all of that. They also want instant gratification and that's where Amazon enters the equation.
The intersection of these two platforms has upended the beauty ecosystem. Some experts believe TikTok will evolve into a new distribution channel, while others are taking a wait-and-see approach. After all, TikTok Shops is just a year old, and brand reactions are mixed, but the platform has capture the attention of consumers.
While no one knows how TikTok will evolve, its influence and impact are significant. As with any new platform, the early adopters will dive in, get messy, and figure it out, earning a competitive advantage. We recently had a webinar with Market Defense and Spate to dive into learnings on the relationship between TikTok and Amazon, focusing on separating trends from trending topics and converting traffic to sales.
The Relationship Between TikTok and Amazon
The nexus between these two powerhouse platforms emerged organically during the pandemic when TikTok-related search terms began appearing on Amazon. By 2022, this relationship was clear, with viral TikTok trends driving significant sales of beauty products on Amazon.
Vanessa Kuykendall, Chief Engagement Officer, Market Defense, shared, "We began noticing search terms specific to TikTok popping up during the pandemic. Remember the TikTok leggings. That became a search term on Amazon in 2021 that signaled the connection."
She continued, "By 2022, the intersection was very, very clear. Alix Earle published her top Amazon holiday choices, which went completely viral, driving many of those products to the top-selling list on Amazon for beauty products."
The rest is history, as they say, consumers watching TikTok head to Amazon to purchase. This behavior is validated in the BeautyMatter x Market Defense Quarterly Top 25 List, where every quarter we see new items pop based on TikTok trends.
Take Aways:
TikTok Trends That Drove Amazon Sales
Brands, creators, and users are perpetually stuck in a battle against the impossibly fast TikTok trend cycle. Trends arise seemingly overnight with no forewarning and can disappear just as quickly. Reacting to ephemeral trending topics can be elusive, while timing a trend right can be a goldmine. According to NielsenIQ, beauty and wellness is the #1 category purchased on TikTok, driven by vitamins and supplements, fragrances, and facial skincare.
Tana oil took off on TikTok at the end of 2023 and is still growing on Amazon. Botanical oil is a new trend term within the universe of solutions for hair loss, which is a huge topic across platforms that drives the search for products that provide solutions.
Cluster eyelash extensions began trending on TikTok in 2023, driving people to Amazon looking for lash clusters, a search term that continues to grow in 2024.
Perfume, in general, is having a moment, fueled by a fast-growing corner of the social media universe called #PerfumeTok, racking up 252.8 million posts by influencers in the scent space. This trend migrated to Amazon search in the way of pheromone perfumes.
Take Aways:
Cross-Platform Strategies That Can Inspire Sales
We know TikTok drives traffic to Amazon. Now the question is, the traffic is there, people are looking for what they've seen on TikTok. How do you build strategies that capture and convert the traffic?
"I think that one thing that's important to remember, whether it's TikTok or Google, Facebook or any of these platforms where you can get traffic to your website or Amazon listings, it's important to remember some fundamentals that you have to get right to convert that traffic," Dave Karlsven, Client Marketing and Data Science, Market Defense shared. "You also have to put the traffic source in context."
For example, with TikTok traffic, you must consider that it's primarily a mobile app. When optimizing Amazon listings, you need to keep in mind people are on their phones and will only see the first 80 characters in the product title. If you don't have the keywords that are being searched, like the trending hashtags on TikTok, they're less likely to convert, less likely to buy, less likely to feel they're on the right product.
Karlsven says images and videos are super important with mobile, "You have a few seconds to grab the consumer's attention and help confirm they've found the right product and need to have it."
TikTok is what gets the ball rolling; people become aware of the products and get that traffic going, but once the consumers decide they're interested, images and videos that appear at the top of the Amazon listings are vital in that conversion journey.
While Amazon's algorithm is always evolving and changing, one thing that stays consistent is sales velocity and conversion rate. If you can maximize the sales velocity and the conversion rate on your listing, everything else takes care of itself across keywords. However, Karlsven warns, "When you're sending a lot of traffic from TikTok, it's not always a good thing. If you get too much traffic to an Amazon listing that doesn't convert, it can negatively impact you with Amazon's organic algorithms."
Key Take Aways:
Syncing Amazon Store and TikTok Shop
In just one year, TikTok Shop has skyrocketed, becoming the ninth-largest online beauty and wellness retailer in the US and the second largest in the UK, according to a report by Dash Hudson and NielsenIQ, with 8% of US consumers having purchased on the store— most of them have made two to three.
Organic viral moments are the holy grail of the Amazon x TikTok nexus, but it's important to remember it's not really free; you have to earn it. Often, these moments are fueled by other paid strategies that impact the organic parts of the algorithm. TikTok ads and TikTok influencers are the two main ways to sync the platforms.
In August, TikTok launched the ability for users to seamlessly discover and purchase their favorite products from Amazon directly within the TikTok app. Amazon powers this shopping experience through ads placed on TikTok, which allows users to complete product purchases with Amazon in TikTok's native environment. These are closed loop ads where everything happens on TikTok. You run an ad, consumers click an ad, and then purchase on TikTok. For the consumer, it's seamless, but the purchase actually happens through Amazon and is fulfilled through Amazon. The other kind of ad is an open loop ad where traffic is sent outside TikTok directly to Amazon, landing pages, or your website.
While organic influencer traffic happens, most results from some compensation, free product, payment, or an affiliate relationship. TikTok is a discovery vehicle that enables consumers to be engaged and stay longer to immerse themselves in a beauty experience, which drives more sales across the board.
Key Take Aways:
Check out the on-demand video to hear the full conversation and hear predictions from Yarden Horwitz, Co-Founder, Spate on which beauty trends will resonate through the holiday season.
