How China can help predict the TikTok shop effect

Scrolling TikTok has become one of the most popular ways to wind down in the West, offering people a never-ending conveyor of content. Keeping over one billion monthly users entertained, the short-form video app has consequently evolved into the West’s latest shopping phenomenon. In-stream retail grew 120% YoY in 2024 alone, according to TikTok. With 47 million shoppers now spending $32 million every day, TikTok’s e-commerce ambitions mirror a model that has already flourished in China for years: live social commerce. The retail trend sees bloggers film themselves talking through products, or trying them out, QVC-style, spurring consumers to make instant purchases. Emerging around 2015, the mainland’s social commerce sector expanded rapidly to become a 1.2 trillion RMB ($227 billion) industry within just four years. By 2018, it made up approximately 14% of the country’s RMB 9 trillion online retail market, reaching over 300 million consumers. During the 2019 Singles’ Day livestreams, Alibaba’s Taobao Live brought in RMB 20 billion (approximately $2,789,964,000) in just 24 hours. Douyin, Xiaohongshu, and WeChat jumped on the wave, which began to alter Chinese consumption patterns. As TikTok Shop expands westward, shopping behaviors in the East and West are converging, with China providing a preview of Western retail’s future. The era of impulsivity In China, shopping has been integrated into entertainment culture through social commerce, and the same is happening in the West. That line between content and commerce is blurred on TikTok, creating an ecosystem in which “casual” online shopping is as common a part of wind-down routines as watching TV or reading a book. Of 10 TikTok Shop users in London asked about their habits on the app, all said every purchase they made had been spontaneous. And that is exactly how livestreamers want you to shop: impulsively. TikTok’s algorithm and the structure of discounting and limited edition products makes people feel like they need to buy the product, right then. Chinese consumers have long embraced this rhythm. Livestreams, swipeable demos, and AI-driven recommendations feed a discovery loop that Western platforms are only now attempting to mirror. And urgency works. From Singles’ Day blowouts to JD.com’s record-breaking 618 sales festival (2.2 billion orders placed in 2025), the country’s e-commerce giants have turned limited-time drops into blockbuster events. “It’s all about offering bundles and exclusives, discounts and promos that you can’t get anywhere outside of TikTok Shop,” says Ellie Holland, senior account director at influencer marketing agency Coolr. “Creating a sense of fear-of-missing-out. In-app shopping also massively reduces the user journey; everything is done without leaving the app, making it feel like you’re spending Monopoly money!” This sense of urgency has created impatient consumers in China, with domestic platforms teaching users that hesitation costs them. Convenience culture In 2023, Jing Daily interviewed Chinese consumers about their shopping habits, and University of the Arts London graduate Julie Sun said how “e-commerce feels like a lot of work in the U.K.” Fast forward to 2025, and that seems to be changing, with the ByteDance-owned app providing simpler and more efficient online shopping. China’s retail ecosystem, anchored by platforms like WeChat and Taobao, has turned convenience into culture. Fast, integrated checkouts and one-stop ecosystems reduce every step in the user journey to seconds. Now, TikTok Shop is training Western consumers to expect the same, and this is likely to feed into other retail behaviors, from in-store purchasing, to e-commerce. Smooth shopping journeys are a rising necessity for brands wanting to win over netizens, whether that is through one-tap checkouts, in-app returns, or instant customer service. TikTok is slowly priming Western audiences to reject the online shopping inefficiencies they used to tolerate. Trust in people, not platforms In China, consumers have reflected widespread behaviors portraying more trust in people over brands, exemplified in the boom of livestream shopping. Social commerce thrives because recommendations come from creators who people have built up a fondness for. A McKinsey study found only 13% of Chinese consumers say they are least influenced by social media in purchasing decisions, compared to 36% in the U.S. and 56% in Europe. Peer-led discovery is the norm in China, exemplified by the country’s vibrant fan culture. Western shoppers are catching up to the benefits of peer-to-peer recommendations. “I’m a sucker for getting pulled into ads of people promoting things being sold on TikTok Shop,” says Edinburgh-based marketer Katie Barnett. “Especially if it’s someone whose style I already like, or follow.” London-based TikTok shopper Nina Michalska, says, “Anything on Amazon, I can get off TikTok Shop cheaper. Clothing-wise, I get to see it on actual people, ask them their height, etc.” Until now, Western retail maintained a clear divide between influencers and direct sales, but China merged these roles years ago. Looking forward TikTok Shop’s Western boom may feel like a new frontier. But to anyone who’s been watching China’s e-commerce evolution, it looks familiar. Western shoppers will likely undergo behavioral shifts: shorter attention spans, greater reliance on peer recommendations, higher service expectations, and more impulse purchases. Luxury brands should recognize these changes and develop integrated physical-digital retail strategies suited to this new consumption era. China has already shown us what happens when entertainment, convenience, and urgency collide. TikTok Shop is simply bringing that reality to the West.

How China can help predict the TikTok shop effect

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Published July 14, 2025

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How China can help predict the TikTok shop effect