TikTok’s acceleration into e-commerce promises many opportunities – for small and medium-sized businesses, especially. The opportunities to leverage TikTok’s infectious energy and zeitgeist culture are tempting, but if brands are to fully capitalise on the revolution in online shopping behaviour (dubbed ‘discovery commerce’) they should take time in order to fully understand TikTok’s role.
Discovery commerce confounds traditional understanding of the purchase funnel, where audiences move gradually along the stages involving awareness, interest, consideration and evaluation, before eventually leading to purchase. Instead, it’s all about impulse shopping by audiences online who, even if they are not specifically in ‘task mode’,...