Navigating TikTok Shop can be confusing. A quick glance at the TikTok Shop Academy website reveals 39 courses, 303 feature guides, and 105 policy documents—just for sellers. It’s overwhelming, and it’s hard to see the forest through the trees.

At Trendio, we’ve spent the last two years working with some of the most innovative brands on TikTok Shop—testing, refining, and unlocking the key drivers of growth. Through this experience, we’ve built a proven framework to help brands understand what actually moves the needle, what they can control, and how to maximize profitability. While no model is perfect, this approach captures the most critical levers for success—no matter your category or stage.

The Core of TikTok Shop: Short-Form Video

TikTok is a video-first platform, so it’s no surprise that the foundation of TikTok Shop is content—lots of it. Videos on TikTok Shop generally fall into three categories:

1. Brand-Created Videos – Content produced or commissioned by the brand.
2. Affiliate Open Collaborations (Inbound) – Content created by affiliates who organically choose to promote the product.
3. Affiliate Targeted Collaborations (Outbound) – Content created through direct brand outreach to select affiliates.

For most established brands, open collaborations contribute to about 80% of video content on TikTok Shop. When executed effectively, brand-created videos and targeted collaborations can punch above their weight, and open collaborations may only account for 70% of Gross Merchandise Value, but they will still represent the majority of the content and the sales.

However, our data indicates that the actions brands take on targeted and owned posts are essential, because they act as the engine that fuels open collaborations.

The Power Law of Video Performance

Here’s the reality: not all videos drive sales—far from it. Across brands, 90-98% of videos don’t generate revenue. But the remaining 2-10% are game changers—high-productivity posts that, when properly amplified, skyrocket sales. Whether this percentage is 2% or 10% makes a huge impact on total revenue, and Trendio’s proprietary technology is specifically designed to increase both the volume of collaborations and the percentage of high-productivity videos.

And here’s another key insight: TikTok Shop isn’t just a sales channel—it’s a media channel. Even posts that don’t drive immediate sales create massive Earned Media Value—fueling awareness, consideration, and long-term demand across multiple sales channels.

Turning Viral Content into Sales: The Role of Paid Ads & Promotions

Once a high-productivity video is identified, the next step is amplification. Brands that strategically invest in paid ads and promotions see dramatically higher returns—turning viral content into scalable sales.

This flips the traditional influencer marketing model on its head. In the past, brands had to gamble on influencers—paying upfront before knowing if their content would perform. But TikTok Shop changes the game. Brands can now “try before they buy”—scaling up investment only after a post has proven its potential.

Ignoring this step doesn’t just limit sales—it makes brands less attractive to new affiliates, who often evaluate a brand’s earning potential based on how previous affiliates have performed.

The Key Levers of TikTok Shop Success

The blue boxes in the framework above highlight the core growth levers that brands can control to drive sustainable sales and profitability.

Of course, operational factors like shop health, fulfillment speed, product listings, and customer service still matter. But at the heart of TikTok Shop success is a combination of content strategy and amplification.

What about Lives? Live Shopping has potential, but for now, it remains a small part of the TikTok Shop revenue mix. While it may play a bigger role in the future, the brands winning today are focused on scalable, repeatable content strategies that drive sustainable growth.

Understanding TikTok Shop’s Sales Impact Beyond the Platform

A common mistake brands make when measuring TikTok Shop’s performance is focusing only on direct platform sales. But TikTok Shop’s influence extends far beyond the platform itself—fueling sales across multiple channels.

• Many customers discover a product on TikTok Shop but buy elsewhere—often on a brand’s website or Amazon, where they may trust the checkout process more, get faster delivery, or use loyalty perks. For every $1 in TikTok Shop sales, an additional $0.50 to $1 is generated through other channels.
• Repeat purchases overwhelmingly happen outside of TikTok Shop—and at higher margins, since they no longer include affiliate commissions.

Because of this broader impact, leading brands prioritize Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) over direct revenue when assessing TikTok Shop performance. When measured as an acquisition channel, TikTok Shop often outperforms other digital marketing investments.

The Economics of TikTok Shop: The Full Picture

To accurately measure TikTok Shop’s return on investment (ROI), brands must consider all revenue sources and associated margins. While some brands exclude indirect sales from their TikTok Shop economics due to measurement challenges, the only incorrect assumption is assuming these additional sales are zero. An illustrative P&L for a large brand is presented below. When fully accounted for, TikTok Shop’s ROI consistently exceeds 2x.

Final Thoughts: A Data-Backed Approach to TikTok Shop

TikTok Shop presents one of the biggest growth opportunities in ecommerce today, but its success is not random. Brands that understand the key drivers—content creation, affiliate engagement, and paid amplification—will consistently outperform the competition. By leveraging data-driven strategies and AI-powered optimization, brands can transform TikTok Shop from an experimental channel into a scalable, profitable sales engine.