Building Brands, Not Just Baskets

Beyond the headline figures lie a more fundamental shift. TikTok is no longer simply a marketing channel; it is a fully integrated ecosystem where discovery, consideration and purchase converge. Kenny Adegbulu, Head of Brand Partnerships (Beauty) at TikTok Shop, outlined how the platform is reshaping the relationship between brand and commerce. Success requires brands to move beyond siloed approaches, integrating marketing and commerce to unlock the platform’s full value.

At the heart of TikTok Shop’s success is its content-first model. Growth is not dictated by follower count but by the relevance and resonance of content. Raw, authentic and unfiltered storytelling consistently outperforms highly produced brand campaigns with discovery driven by content rather than intent.

Creators sit at the centre of this ecosystem, driving 80% of TikTok Shop sales. For brands looking to scale, this makes creator partnerships essential. Sampling, seeding and collaboration are no longer optional tactics – they are foundational to success.

What Success Looks Like

Several brands highlighting the platform’s potential include: –

• The Ordinary executed a 15-day product launch that generated over 100 million views and sold 20,000 units. The campaign blended science-led storytelling with creator partnerships, live shopping and real-time Q&A – driving both online and in-store sales.
• MAC Cosmetics leveraged TikTok Shop to support a social-first relaunch, including a livestream from its Carnaby Street store. The campaign generated over 200,000 creator videos within seven days, delivering 10 million impressions.
• Dr. Melaxin, a K-beauty brand with no prior UK presence, launched exclusively on TikTok Shop, scaling rapidly before expanding into additional retail channels.

These examples demonstrate TikTok Shop’s ability not only to drive immediate sales, but also to build long-term brand equity.

Across all strategies, three consistent benefits emerge – brand building at scale through discovery-led content, new customer acquisition driven by creators and community and a halo effect, with measurable uplift across wider retail and marketing channels.

Brands that succeed embrace its hybrid nature, invest equally in storytelling and performance, and integrate it fully across their organisations.

In a landscape where attention is currency, TikTok Shop is where beauty is now being discovered, validated and purchased – all in one place.

Scaling Virality

Building on TikTok Shop’s role as a discovery and commerce engine, Ben Muir, CEO of Unsociable – one of TikTok Shop’s leading global agency partners – shared practical insights from scaling some of the platform’s most successful brands.

Unsociable’s journey into TikTok Shop was not a planned one. Originally not a TikTok-focused agency, the team began by creating their own content as the platform gained traction. This experimentation quickly paid off, with Muir himself going viral as the “grumpy Scottish boss” – a moment that ultimately led to a direct relationship with TikTok and early exposure to the scale of opportunity already evident in markets such as China and Southeast Asia.

From this foundation, Muir outlined six key insights for brands looking to succeed on TikTok Shop.

1. The Right Creator + The Right Story

At the core of every successful TikTok Shop campaign is a simple formula: the right creator telling the right story. Virality is not about scale of seeding, but about authentic storytelling that resonates.

The panel also reinforced the importance of trusting creators. Overly prescriptive briefs can limit performance; instead, brands should provide guidance while allowing creators the freedom to communicate in their own style.

This balance helps maintain authenticity while ensuring alignment with brand messaging – an approach that underpins the most effective TikTok Shop strategies.

2. Virality Is Not Random

While TikTok can appear unpredictable, Muir emphasised that successful content follows identifiable patterns. Over time, Unsociable developed a repeatable framework for virality, rooted in both product and content strategy. High-performing products tend to solve a clear, relatable problem and demonstrate an immediate, visible result, offer strong value for money and introduce an element of exclusivity or novelty.

When these elements align, performance accelerates rapidly – particularly when paired with key retail moments such as TikTok Shop campaign events.

3. Product Strategy Is Critical

Creators may drive distribution, but product is what sustains it. The most successful TikTok Shop products are those that are inherently demonstrable – whether through transformation, problem-solving, or instant gratification.

4. Virality Compounds – On and Off Platform

One of TikTok Shop’s most powerful dynamics is the compounding nature of virality. Within the platform, multiple creators producing variations of the same narrative creates an “everywhere effect,” where consumers repeatedly encounter the product across their feed.

5. Reality Outperforms Polish

Authenticity consistently outperforms polish. Content that is “rough around the edges,” addresses genuine consumer problems, and allows creators to communicate in their own voice delivers the greatest impact.

This reinforces a broader shift: anyone can be a creator, and the most effective content often comes from those who feel closest to the consumer experience.

6. Live Shopping Is an Experience

Live shopping is another critical growth lever – but success requires careful planning. From building a clear narrative and structure, creating a dedicated set or environment, maintaining engagement throughout the stream and offering incentives or rewards to retain viewers.

When executed effectively, livestreams shift from transactional moments to high-impact brand experiences, notes Muir.

A Repeatable Formula for Growth

Across all six insights, a consistent theme emerges: success on TikTok Shop is not accidental. It is driven by a combination of the right product, the right creator, and the right story – amplified through a platform designed for discovery and scale.

Virality may look spontaneous, but behind it sits a structured, repeatable approach – one that blends creativity with commercial strategy to unlock growth both on and beyond TikTok Shop.

Operationalising Discovery Commerce

However, virality also brings operational challenges. As demand surges, stock must keep pace – highlighting the importance of aligning supply with potential spikes in awareness.

Camilla Craven emphasised that brands should focus on integration across teams. Success requires collaboration across marketing, commercial, and affiliate functions.

Affiliate and influencer strategies, in particular, are increasingly converging. Whether a creator has 14 followers or 100,000, the principle remains the same: they are advocates for the brand, simply incentivised in different ways.

Authenticity remains critical. While brands can define their positioning, it is ultimately the consumer – using the product – that shapes how it is perceived. Listening to that voice is essential.

Investment and Resourcing

Kenny Adegbulu addressed one of the most important – and often misunderstood – aspects of TikTok Shop: profitability takes time.

Like any channel, TikTok Shop requires upfront investment, with brands typically seeing returns after an initial 3- 6-month period. This is particularly true for those looking to scale aggressively.

Critically, success depends on having the right infrastructure in place. TikTok Shop cannot be managed as a side project – it requires dedicated resources, clear ownership, and cross-functional collaboration. Brands must ensure operational readiness, invest in the right teams and partnerships and commit to the channel with a clear plan to unlock its full value. For brands without the internal capacity, working with specialist partners can be a more effective route.

Event Speakers included Emily Caine, Head of Beauty at TikTok Shop, and Jacqui Burchell, Chief Commercial Officer at the British Beauty Council who gave opening remarks. Presentations by Kenny Adegbulu (Head of Brand Partnerships, Beauty, TikTok Shop UK) and Ben Muir Founder and CEO of Unsociable with  a panel discussion with Camilla Craven (Beauty Fractional CMO/Marketing Director, Camilla Craven Consulting), Dean Smith (Managing Director, Latest in Beauty) and Sarah Lee (Head of Discovery Commerce, The INKEY List).