To give a bit of background, I am reselling imported food products (noodles, crisps, sodas, etc.) on consignment. I started on ebay, but as soon as I went onto TikTok, it became my main sales channel.
@justkeepswimingswiming
Last year, I was able to make a good profit, but it was mostly driven by a single product (Samyang noodles, if you know), it was sometimes up to 80% of my orders. But this product is now available in supermarkets, so my competitive advantage has gone. I am still making steady sales (I have hundreds of other products). My sales are also impacted by the school calendar with peaks during holidays (except for summer).
Sales also depend A LOT of your shop score. It is a score out of 5, you really need to be above 4 to get good traffic from TikTok.
@jasmine465
I am admirative of you being on Amazon, I cannot make sense of their sellers' platform and it's infuriating, I am about to pay someone on Fivver to help me.
Regarding marketing, I started because of the Samyang, clients found me through searches from the very beginning.
I usually publish videos twice a day, follow people to get follow backs etc., it helps getting eyeballs on my shop but I am pretty sure most of my traffic comes from people looking at/searching products on the Shop tab.
For videos, TikTok offers the possibility to generate AI products videos very easily. You select a product listing, add a few pictures, and TikTok generates 5 sales videos with an AI-generated voiceover in 30 seconds. They will not win awards for creativity or subtlety, but they do the job. I also use Capcut and templates to create more sophisticated ones once in a while but it does not really matter, most ppl give up watching after less than 2 seconds on average.
I have tried a few packing lives but I don't really have the space. If I could do it more easily, I would give it a shot to see if it impacts my sales.
I have only paid TikTok for promoting videos a couple of times because they were offering massive discounts, not really sure if it had an impact.
Regarding affiliation (other content creators who publish videos about your products with a link to buy and the profit is split), at the beginning, no one was interested, or ppl applied and never produced any content, but slowly, it is happening, I would say 5%. TikTok is making a lot of noise about it (same as lives) but it's not very big.
From my experience, what drives sales is appearing on top in the Shop tab.
And that is determined by your shop score and by the promotions/campaigns you take part in. TikTok loves a promotion, but it's where it gets a bit complicated.
You can offer your own promotions on products (flash sales, vouchers, bundles, etc.) but TikTok also offers its own.
Some others are totally paid by TikTok (by ex, you sell at £10, but TikTok decides to give a £1 off to clients, they will not let you know in advance, but you will get the same final amount as if the client paid £10, TikTok covering the difference)
Some are a bit more complicated. If your shop score is above 4, you are invited to join all sorts of promotional campaigns and register products for them. In exchange, they will appear prominently. But regarding the terms it's sometimes like "offer up to x% discount and we will share some of the cost with you, but we are not telling how much in advance and it can vary anyway". And you only know how much you actually made 3+ weeks after when the order is finally settled and you are paid. So you got to be a bit cautious there (and make sure you don't have products with several discounts overlapping or you can sell at a loss). But the upside is traffic.
Sorry, I was long, hope it helps!