The Rise of Social Commerce

In today’s digital age, platforms like TikTok and Instagram have become essential tools for beauty brands aiming to drive significant sales through social commerce. These social media giants have evolved into powerful marketplaces where beauty enthusiasts can discover, engage with, and purchase products directly. 

Beauty influencers and user-generated content are pinned at the heart of this rise, with their large and dedicated followings, influencers can sway consumer opinions and drive trends. A single post or live stream can generate a surge in product sales. For instance, the TikTok Shop has turned into a massive revenue driver for many brands. P.Louise, a UK-based makeup brand, shattered records by generating over £1.5 million in just 12 hours during a TikTok Shop LIVE event. The brand sold two products every second, with popular items such as the Makeup Mystery Box and Bad B*itch Energy Lip Duo becoming instant best-sellers. 

Brands like Made by Mitchell have also embraced the platform, reaching the milestone of $1 million in sales within just 24 hours. This success highlights how social commerce is not just a trend but a major shift in consumer purchasing behaviour. TikTok Shop now accounts for a significant portion of beauty sales, with 22.5% of the platform’s $11.09 billion gross merchandise volume (GMV) in 2023 coming from beauty and personal care. 

One of the reasons TikTok has been such a success for smaller brands is their ability to be agile and react quickly to trends. Smaller brands like Chub Rub Patch and Nature Spell have leveraged TikTok’s unique culture of authentic, unpolished content to grow organically. These brands often rely on founder-led content and user engagement rather than polished, expensive ads. This flexibility enables them to adapt quickly to TikTok trends, translating viral moments into real sales spikes. 

For example, Nature Spell went from just a few orders a day to around 9,000 daily orders through consistent engagement on TikTok Shop. Similarly, Chub Rub Patch’s viral content, which features its founder showing how the product is used in real-life scenarios, has led to significant increases in unit sales. Smaller brands have successfully capitalised on the platform’s lower barriers to entry, creating content that resonates with TikTok’s community-driven atmosphere. 

On the flip side, bigger brands with more complex distribution channels face unique challenges when using TikTok Shop. These established companies often struggle with concerns that TikTok sales could cannibalise their revenue streams from traditional retailers and pureplay e-commerce giants like Amazon. Large brands also face pressure to maintain consistent pricing across channels, and the deep discounts often seen on TikTok Shop could trigger price matching on platforms like Amazon, further squeezing margins. 

For large brands with extensive distribution partnerships, TikTok Shop may also create conflicts with established retail channels. Concerns over inventory management, pricing consistency, and brand control make it more difficult for bigger brands to fully embrace the platform without risking damage to their broader revenue streams. This tug-of-war between new opportunities and traditional revenue models is forcing many large brands to carefully evaluate their approach to TikTok Shop. 

As social commerce continues to grow, the question isn’t just how brands will adapt but how this vertical itself will evolve. Platforms like TikTok will likely push the boundaries of traditional e-commerce, reshaping how both small and large businesses operate in this space. 

#Veblen #SocialCommerce #BeautyOnTikTok #TikTokShopSuccess #InfluencerMarketing