"I find myself buying a lot of unnecessary things": TikTok algorithm has changed "the shopping game"

Gone are the days of receiving a mail-order catalog and circling the items you wished to buy with a bright red Sharpie. Even scrolling through a retailer's website to see what’s in stock seems outdated. After all, if you can purchase an item in two clicks through a video on TikTok, why would you go through all that work?

In September 2023, TikTok launched its e-commerce venture, TikTok Shop – reshaping online shopping as we know it. As users scroll through their For You Page, they may come across videos from a user or company promoting an item available through “TikTok Shop.” Often these videos are recorded as a review, showing how the item may look when worn, used or consumed.

By simply tapping on the name of the product featured in the video, viewers can immediately place the item in their virtual cart. Then, it only takes two clicks to select the payment method and have the item shipped to their home.

This merger of social media and online shopping has taken the world by storm. At the end of 2023, TikTok had more than 15 million sellers globally, offering products through short-form videos and livestreams. Since then, the venture has only grown, paving the way for future online retail, according to sellers and consumers on the app.

“It is the next iteration of shopping,” content-creator Rene Lacad told Salon, pointing to how easy it is to purchase an item when it appears on your curated feed.

“With TikTok Shop, I find myself buying a lot of unnecessary things because of how good it is at getting someone to be interested in something,” Lacad said. “Typically, when you see an ad from a business, it feels forced on you. But when you see an ad fed to you by an algorithm, it doesn't feel forced on you because it feels like you just came across it organically. It’s almost like a recommendation from a friend.”

Phaith Montoya, a beauty and lifestyle influencer with over 3 million followers on TikTok, told Salon that she now makes a purchase through TikTok Shop “every few days.”

“My favorite thing about TikTok Shop is that the products just find me, right?” she said, referring to the app’s unique algorithm. “I could go on to any other shopping website and you have to type in what you’re looking for, and you have to do the digging though the reviews. But [now] I will see a video come up on something that I didn’t even know that I needed or liked.”

Small businesses have particularly seen massive success in selling their products through TikTok Shop. A representative for TikTok revealed that between January 2023 and January 2024, Alabama-based beauty business Canvas Beauty saw its sales grow five times year-over-year – allowing the company to grow their employee base 10 times over. During just one livestream video, the beauty company saw tens of thousands of orders placed.

Amid this success, TikTok announced a partnership with Amazon. By linking their Amazon account with TikTok, users can now make in-app purchases through Amazon via advertisements on the platform.

A representative for Amazon told Salon this partnership is “making it more convenient for customers to shop in social media” as they no longer have to leave the app after coming across a product they wish to buy. Not only will TikTok users be able to see the product available on Amazon, but they will be shown real-time pricing and delivery estimates, as well as Prime eligibility.

This partnership helps solidify TikTok’s position in the e-commerce market as it began to threaten other major retailers, industry experts say.

“Amazon will reap some benefit in the sense that it won't be left behind in the competition with TikTok,” said Baruch Labunski, CEO of Rank Secure. “Amazon saw the future, knew it couldn't build a competitive tech architecture quickly so it decided it was better to join them than beat them.”

As TikTok Shop’s reach continues to grow, there are still many concerns to consider. For Labunski, one lies directly within the Amazon partnership.

“My biggest concern is whether this deal will be seen by the government as a monopoly," Labunski said, pointing to an August ruling that declared Google had an illegal monopoly on search. “With the Google case in the courts, there may be smaller entities like eBay or others who will issue a challenge.”

At the same time, TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance is facing pressure from the United States government to sell the popular video app by early 2025 or face being banned in the country. The ultimatum comes as leaders in Congress expressed concerns that the Chinese government could access private user data on the app.

While TikTok has taken the U.S. government to court, citing First Amendment protections, some say the Amazon partnership may raise other data concerns.

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“The data sharing is interesting, that could lead to much more user data being shared and more personalized ads in the future,” said Tom Leach, director of Norsu Media. “However, whilst TikTok could learn a lot from Amazon’s vast infrastructure – as TikTok [tries] to increase their footprint – it may also end up burning them if they share too much with a powerhouse like Amazon, especially if TikTok risks a ban or forced sale.”

With TikTok Shop nearing the one-year anniversary of its launch in the U.S., many agree the e-commerce venture is hurtling online-shopping into the future .

Labunski said consumers are becoming more demanding in their shopping desires, calling for convenience over using multiple websites for their favorite brands. “TikTok Shop is taking advantage of that by incorporating their social media with shopping and paying for their brands in one place,” he said.

For Montoya, TikTok’s integration of retail into its user-focused algorithm has already changed “the shopping game.”

“The shopping experience I feel like definitely changed a lot, and I can see a lot of retailers trying to follow suit in the future," she said. "I definitely think that this is such a unique experience to be like, ‘Wow, I didn’t even know… I would care for something like this’ until you see it and you see somebody, a real person – like a mom or student or somebody - just using it in real time. Like wow, this is beneficial."