Dive Brief:
- Best Buy will launch on TikTok Shop in late October, according to a company press release. The retailer will offer nearly 10,000 items from brands such as Microsoft, Dyson, Bose and Oura.
- Consumers will be able to purchase items through TikTok Shop without leaving the social commerce app, and orders will be fulfilled by Best Buy. Eligible purchases can be returned directly in stores or mailed back to the retailer.
- Participants in the company’s content creator program can promote the retailer’s assortment and guide customers to its page on TikTok Shop. The retailer’s advertisers can also create shoppable content and include affiliate links.
Dive Insight:
Establishing a presence on TikTok Shop offers Best Buy another channel to reach consumers and a pathway to collect data on the platform.
Brands that create TikTok campaigns can use the affiliate links and shoppable content to track which creators, content and products are garnering engagement and sales, the company said.
“Social media isn’t just influencing what people buy anymore. It’s shaping how they discover products, with creators playing an increasingly important role in what people notice, consider and want to try,” Jonathan Greer, vice president of e-commerce at Best Buy, said in a statement. “Launching on TikTok Shop lets us meet customers at that exact moment of discovery and make it easy to shop.”
Best Buy’s TikTok debut comes amid the retailer’s transformation. “We’re not just a retailer anymore,” Chief Customer, Product and Fulfillment Officer Jason Bonfig, who will take on the CEO role in November, said this spring. Bonfig’s vision for the company in part is to transform Best Buy into a retail media, advertising and technology company.
In its latest quarter, Best Buy’s revenue ticked up 1.6% from a year prior to $9.4 billion. Comparable sales in Q2 grew 1.1% year over year.
Meanwhile, TikTok continues to grow its roster of retailers leveraging its e-commerce business. Earlier this year, Ulta Beauty launched on TikTok Shop with a curated assortment. This month, Sephora began featuring exclusive monthly product releases, dubbed Sephora Drop Shop, on TikTok Shop in the U.S.
So far, the TikTok Shop strategy has worked for Crocs. CEO Andrew Rees in February said the company had become the top shoe brand on TikTok Shop among U.S. customers. Along with Crocs, other brands and retailers, such as Pacsun and Tarte Cosmetics, touted their TikTok Shop success during the National Retail Federation’s Big Show in January.
As companies flock to the social commerce platform, its sales are projected to soar in the coming years. TikTok Shop comprised nearly a fifth of social commerce in 2025, according to an Emarketer report released in December. While the platform is expected to land more than $20 billion in sales this year, sales could exceed $30 billion by 2028, according to that forecast.
