Focus on spending and ethics

Consumers are increasingly turning to social media for shopping this holiday season, and TikTok’s latest foray into e-commerce has come to the forefront. For some, that means weighing the convenience and often lower prices of mobile shopping against ethical concerns.

The platform introduced TikTok Shop as an in-app shopping experience in the US in September, capitalizing on the #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt trend. The shop will follow in the footsteps of other social media apps such as Instagram, providing an opportunity for both content creators who can sell their wares and avid TikTok users who can make purchases directly on the app.

TikTok Shop previously faced backlash and was forced to shut down in Indonesia, but consumers are increasingly buying up social media.

According to a recent survey from Shopify-Gallup, nearly half of respondents between the ages of 18 and 29 said they plan to purchase holiday gifts on social media apps. Additionally, according to the ICSC report, 86% of Gen Z shoppers (defined as those between the ages of 16 and 26) say social media influences their shopping habits.

One of TikTok Shop’s biggest fans is 29-year-old Chuck Vaughn, who called the TikTok Shop phenomenon a “gold rush.”

“There are crazy coupons combined with sale prices and you end up getting 50% off or 60% off,” the Tennessee man told CNBC. “As far as I know, there’s no reason not to use this.”

While some argue that using the platform strips shoppers of their privacy, Vaughn said it’s clear that today’s consumers are already giving up their data to most apps. . Instead, he leans into trends and his latest purchase is Pokemon cards. The market price for the card is usually around $70, but Vaughn said she bought it on the TikTok Shop for just $33 with free shipping and it arrived within a week.

Vaughn said she plans to do at least some of her holiday shopping on the app and has encouraged friends and family to use TikTok Shop.

In-app purchases make instant purchase functionality even more prevalent. This trend was especially reinforced early in the pandemic when people mostly stayed home due to mandates or concerns about contracting the coronavirus. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, Americans spent $791.7 billion on e-commerce in 2020.

TikTok says it has more than 200,000 sellers on its Shop platform and the #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt hashtag has been viewed more than 77 billion times as of this month. TikTok says the Shop feature will include multiple promotions, coupons and sales on trending products this holiday season.

Although in-person commerce has made a comeback after the pandemic, the trend of consumers buying online has undoubtedly skyrocketed in recent years, according to Ant Duffin, digital commerce analyst at Gartner.

Duffin told CNBC that the social media commerce landscape has created a particularly interesting ecosystem of brands, creators, technology and consumers, each of whom have a role to play in strengthening the e-commerce space. Ta.

“What we’re starting to see now is that TikTok is bucking the trend of offering a complete social commerce ecosystem of strategies, from paid ads to short-form videos to immersive shops, where everything can be transacted within the app. “That’s it,” Duffin said.

Duffin says this new territory could be a “new battleground” for small businesses. Especially during the holiday season, small businesses can increase their visibility and successfully build their brand on social media apps, filling a void for brands looking to take advantage of new market opportunities.

But Duffin said TikTok Shop still can’t compete with the likes of Amazon and have more influence than buying stocking stuffers.

But not everyone likes being able to scroll and buy at the same time.

Grace Romine, a second-year student at Indiana University, said she found the Shop feature to be a nuisance at first, especially with the increased number of ads. She also said she noticed that some of the creative content created by creators on the app was being drowned out.

Romine said she disagrees with some of the ethics of the products sold on the app, especially as lower prices are prompting a broader discussion about where the products come from.

“TikTok Shop certainly provides an opportunity for small businesses to succeed, and small businesses really need an e-commerce platform,” she said. “But many of the products I’ve seen promoted by thousands of people are not small businesses.”

“It’s, you know, a $4 wallet. And if you’re selling it for $4, what’s the ethics behind that? Is it sustainably made? This product What kind of labor was used to make it?” she said.

Romine said a combination of fast fashion and over-consumption has left her with a bad taste in shop features, even when she sees classmates walking around campus wearing sweatshirts from ads she saw on the app. Ta. She also wants to see how the app will adapt to the “first Christmas” in the holiday market.

For Anna Kevorkian, a fourth-year history major at Fordham University, the ads have become increasingly appealing, even though she is “basically opposed” to buying anything from the TikTok shop. It has become. She said she has particular interest in a leather wallet that sells for $3, but still questions the ethics behind it.

“I try to be intentional with my shopping, and I think the TikTok Shop is the opposite of intentional shopping,” Kevorkian said, adding that it encourages people to overspend and overconsume. Ta.

“It takes 10 seconds to go into[the web browser]Safari and buy something, but it’s not that inconvenient,” she says. “If we have to shop too much, there’s something wrong with the culture.”

Still, every time the leather wallet shows up on her For You page, Kevorkian balks. Since she has never purchased anything on the app, she will automatically receive a 70% discount on her first purchase.

Correction: This article has been updated to point out that a recent Shopify-Gallup survey found that nearly half of respondents between the ages of 18 and 29 said they plan to purchase holiday gifts on social media apps, and that an ICSC report states that Z Updated to reflect generation shoppers defined as 16 years old. Previous versions incorrectly characterized the age groups included in these surveys.