Shopify and TikTok Announce Expanded Partnership

In October 2020, TikTok and Shopify announced an initial partnership that allowed merchants on the Shopify platform to create, run, and optimize TikTok advertising campaigns directly through the Shopify dashboard. Shopify merchants are able to link their TikTok For Business accounts and select products from their Shopify dashboard to be used in TikTok videos that would appear in an TikTok user’s feed. The recent announcement expands upon these features and further integrates the Shopify and TikTok platforms. The main feature of the recent announcement is the ability for TikTok users to create a shopping tab in their account which can sync with their Shopify catalogue and create a mini-storefront on the TikTok profile. Consumers on TikTok are then routed to the TikTok merchant’s Shopify website for the actual purchase and completion of the transaction. Shopify and TikTok also announced another feature that will allow Shopify merchants to use product links to tag products in organic TikTok posts.

The features introduced in the new announcement are currently available for US and UK based Shopify merchants, with a select groups of Canadian merchants also participating in the coming weeks and other regions being eligible to participate in the coming months.

Author: Zhiyao Chen, 2021/2022 Articling Student-at-law