TikTok is set to launch TikTok Shop in France, Germany, and Italy next Monday. In 2021, TikTok opened its first e-commerce shop in the United Kingdom. Now, the platform is ready to expand in Europe. In an interview to Reuters, the head of operations at TikTok Shop UK, Jan Wilk, told the agenc.y
“In France, Germany, and Italy, we are already working with merchants to get their products listed on the platform and TikTok Shop will be available to our TikTok users from next Monday,”
European Sellers
Though it has been four years since TikTok debuted in European markets, most of the sellers on the e-commerce platform are China-based, sending products directly from China. Now, TokTok is looking for Europe-based sellers as the platform is set to expand throughout the region.
TikTok Needs to Speed Up
While announcing the launch of TikTok Shops in France, Germany, and Italy, Wilk expressed that the platform needs to speed up its strategy. The model was new for European people when the platform first launched its e-commerce shop in the UK. It required a lot of digital education. Since the platform has now synced with the general public and people are aware of online shopping, it needs to expand its customer and seller bases. Wilk said
“My own expectation for Europe is to launch with more speed than we did in the UK, because in the UK four years ago this model was very new, we had to do a lot of education, we had to try out a lot of things to get the right fit.”
TikTok Shop in the US
TikTok launched its e-commerce shop in the US in 2023. Since then, it has been a big hit, especially during holiday seasons. For instance, on Black Friday in 2024, the platform experienced a historical sale. The platform stated
‘The power of our community came to light this holiday season as many brand founders, celebrities, and creators made history with record-breaking LIVE shopping events and sales. LIVE shopping was huge this year: in fact, during the campaign, brands and creators hosted nearly half a million LIVE shopping sessions, totaling over 660K hours.’
According to Statista, TikTok is about to hit a new peak in the digital advertisement segment, with approximately 285.21 million users by 2028. With this forecast, it is a timely decision for TikTok to expand its e-commerce market, which will likely be boosted. However, considering other online shopping platforms like Amazon and Google, which have already targeted European customers, the strategies of TikTok will define their market share in the future.
