Key takeaways
- TikTok Shop expects its biggest Christmas yet, with LIVE shopping sessions up 64% and daily sales up 93%.
- Beauty and fragrance dominate festive trends, with viral products driving huge growth.
- Ad spend on TikTok is forecast to rise 58% in Q4, powered by new tools like Search Ads and Smart+.
- Brands such as P.Louise and Made by Mitchell are leveraging TikTok Shop for real-time engagement and record-breaking sales.
Social media platform TikTok predicts this Christmas will be the biggest yet for its TikTok Shop feature – driven by a surge in LIVE shopping sessions. It projected a 58% year-on-year increase in ad spend revenue from retail and e-commerce clients on TikTok during the festive period just in the UK market.
TikTok said TikTok Shop has rapidly gained momentum, with 200,000 active businesses now using the platform in the UK alone. This figure is double last year’s, as more brands aim to boost their revenue via LIVE shopping and shoppable video functions.
TikTok Shop’s impressive growth ahead of Christmas
TikTok Shop reports that the number of daily LIVE shopping sessions in the UK has increased by over 64% in the past 12 months, with daily sales rising by 93% over the same period.
This follows record-breaking LIVE sessions earlier this year, particularly in the beauty category, including Made by Mitchell, which made over $1m in 24 hours, and P. Louise, which earned $1.5m in 12 hours in July.
Mitchell Halliday, founder and CEO of Made by Mitchell, said: “LIVE shopping on TikTok has completely changed how we connect with our audience, especially during key shopping moments like Christmas. It allows us to bring the festive excitement directly to our customers, showcasing our products in real time, answering any questions, and offering exclusive deals that make Christmas shopping more interactive and personal. The level of engagement and instant feedback we get during these sessions is incredible – it’s like having a direct line to our customers as they shop for gifts.”
Meanwhile, another beauty brand P.Louise hit £2m+ sales in a record-breaking TikTok Shop Live back in September. Founder and CEO of P.Louise, Paige Williams, told CosmeticsDesign-Europe: “Instead of playing it safe, we went bigger, braver, and proved what’s possible when you put community and creativity first. This wasn’t just about sales – it was about creating moments and memories for our customers in the run-up to Christmas.”
LIVE Shopping: the future of beauty retail?
As we enter the final weeks of the ‘Golden Quarter’ – where brands and retailers tend to achieve their strongest sales results of the year – TikTok Shop is on track for its biggest Christmas season yet. The Black Friday period alone is forecast to deliver triple-digit year-on-year growth on TikTok Shop, according to the social media business.
So what is behind this phenomenon? Jack Timpany, E-commerce Activation Director for L’Oréal, said: “TikTok has become an essential platform for us to connect with beauty creators and fans and we’re continuing to invest in our brand channels, creator partnerships and our storefront on TikTok Shop.”
Timpany said the business was proud to be the brand partner for TikTok Shop’s first Super Brand Day in the UK and that single activation helped it connect with beauty creators in the TikTok community. “We’re expecting to have a strong Christmas period, in no small part supported by the momentum we’re seeing on TikTok Shop,” he said.
Meanwhile, Jan Wilk, Head of Operations at TikTok Shop UK, shared his view : “For the last two decades, the fun and human interaction of traditional retail has been missing from online shopping, and I am proud to say that TikTok Shop has brought it back. LIVE shopping and video commerce with real creators and brands is the future, and we are looking forward to giving millions of shoppers that joyful, real-time interaction for our biggest retail moment at TikTok Shop to date.”
Advertising on TikTok is also driving shopping behaviour, with 61% of TikTok users having made a purchase either directly on TikTok or online after seeing an ad on TikTok, according to data from Nielsen.
What are the trending categories on TikTok Shop this festive season?
Hair and Beauty: The business said that one beauty item sells every two seconds on TikTok Shop. It also gave some examples. Sales for @madebymitchell’s Curve Case Cream Makeup Palette have increased by 624%, @plmakeupacademy’s Mini Makeup Mystery Bundle by 62%, and @Wonderskin launched a TikTok-first product called the ‘For You Powder’.
Perfumes: Fragrance is one of the most popular categories for holiday spending on the platform. Popular fragrances include One Million by Paco Rabanne, Prada Paradoxe and fragrance from Jean Paul Gaultier and Carolina Herrera. According to TikTok, there has been a revival of popular 90s fragrances on TikTok Shop in the lead-up to Christmas, with perfume seller @perfumeplusdirect seeing purchases of Joop! Homme increase by over 380% this month, so it’s now its number one best-selling fragrance.
Other winning categories along with cosmetics are ‘Pre-loved luxury’ and ‘Appliances’ – such as the Progress 4-in-1 Hot Chocolate Maker & Milk Frother, which is currently trending on TikTok Shop and has seen a 320% increase in sales over the past week.
