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TikTok, now used by half the country, has long been a dominant entertainment platform in the US, with a lucrative advertising business. Success in shopping means a separate powerful revenue stream. TikTok Shop launched in the US in 2023, and the company kept pushing it despite the potential for a nationwide ban of the app over national security concerns. In 2024, the company halted TikTok Shop’s expansion in other parts of the world to double down on growth in the valuable US market, eventually relocating top brass from ByteDance offices in China to the Seattle area to take the reins of its US e-commerce group in hopes of growing even faster.
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On Douyin and other Chinese apps, live shopping is already an overwhelmingly popular product. Livestream social commerce in China drove almost $540 billion in sales in 2025, according to research firm Emarketer, up more than $200 billion since 2023. Emarketer expects that number to jump to almost $700 billion by 2027.
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Creator economy experts like Walsh believe the US has similar potential. But TikTok’s app could still be banned, and the product is not without competition. Amazon and Ebay Inc. also offer live shopping products, and livestream shopping startup Whatnot Inc. is gaining traction, particularly with vendors of high-value luxury goods. Earlier this year, the TikTok Shop rival raised funds at a $5 billion valuation.
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“Make It a Show”
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TikTok live shopping doesn’t require a brand name like Kardashian. Taylor Chip Cookie, a Pennsylvania-based cookie shop, started live-selling on TikTok just a few months ago, but the streams already account for about 80% of its revenue from the app, according to Chief Executive Officer Doug Taylor. The company’s TikTok streams average just 200 viewers, but generate anywhere from $200 to $2,000 per hour, he added. Even on a slow day, Taylor Chip can make as much in a few hours livestreaming on TikTok as it does during a full day at one of its seven brick-and-mortar stores. Taylor called TikTok Live “the ‘on’ button for sales.”
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That success as an early adopter has spurred Taylor to invest more. Like TikTok Shop sellers in other categories, Taylor Chip has hired a full-time livestream host and plans to hire others — ideally with acting backgrounds — with the goal of expanding from its current 4-hour daily streams to as much as 20 hours by early next year. It’s even building a new facility in Pennsylvania with two live video studios. “The smart people are going to see the opportunity and be the first ones to get that beachfront property,” Taylor said.
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New York-based 17th Street, a pre-owned luxury boutique that sells on TikTok, also hired a dedicated livestream host to promote handbags to prospective customers for five straight hours daily. The company sold an Hermès Birkin bag through TikTok Live for $20,000 earlier this year, and has occasionally brought in over $30,000 in a single day of livestreams, said Olivia Sperduto, 17th Street’s head of social media.
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See More: TikTok Shop Pushes Into Luxury Retail With $11,000 Handbags
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Megan Reep, the founder of Texas-based Mavwicks Fragrances, said that TikTok Shop “took our small business to the moon” in part because of shoppable livestreams. The company, which sells scented soaps, sprays and detergents, expanded from $400,000 in annual sales to $32 million after just one year selling on TikTok, Reep said. She credits the platform for much of that growth, and the company featured Reep during an event at its New York office in November.
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“We try really hard to not just make our lives all about selling; we try to make it a show,” Reep said. Mavwicks featured a dunk tank on a recent broadcast and is planning to showcase a small zoo in another. “We’ll have monkeys and lemurs and things like that on Live with us to keep people engaged,” Reep added.
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