Is Social Commerce in Charge Now? What to Expect from the TikTok Shop Boom

Just two months after the launch of TikTok Shop in Brazil, some brands have already assimilated the tool, structured social commerce strategies and created affiliate programmes to take advantage of the sales force of content creators. Local sellers have already earned more than R$ 1 million with a single product, and many creators began to generate more income from sales commissions than from content partnerships.

I've been working in creative strategy for TikTok Shop in the United States for about two years and I've seen brands like Goli Nutrition become sales phenomena by expanding their acquisition channels via discovery commerce, a model in which users can buy while watching videos from the feed or live broadcasts.

Since 2021, TikTok Shop has been operating in the United Kingdom, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. In 2023, it arrived in the United States and, in 2025, it landed in Mexico, Spain, Germany, France, Italy and, since May, also in Brazil. Although the North American market is warmer in terms of purchasing power and consumer behaviour, Brazilians have a relationship of trust with creators that places the tool as one of the main promises for redesigning e-commerce in the country.

For the content creator, more business

TikTok Shop strengthens affiliate creators, whose main income comes from commissions on sales of third-party products, as well as empowering those who already have other sources of income. Previously dependent on one-off partnerships, creators can now control the entire process, using the platform's infrastructure to manage sales, commissions and direct conversion links with various brands, making it easier to monitor revenue and think strategically about the business.

The relationship between creators and brands needs to be a win-win: the brand avoids distributing products to affiliates with no sales potential, and affiliates don't invest time in unattractive items or those with low commissions. In parallel, YouTube channels and profiles such as that of Shigueo Nakahara (@shigueo_nakahara) teach creators and sellers how to use the platform, sharing stories of earnings ranging from R$ 100 to R$ 30,000 in commissions in less than a month, even with audiences of just a few thousand followers.

For brands, solution and challenge

Shoppable video allows the user to complete the entire purchase journey on the video link itself, eliminating external pages and attribution problems. Integration with e-commerce improves the reading of results and makes partnerships with creators more effective. TikTok's algorithm reduces the distance between a viral video and generating sales, as all the reach is linked to a purchase link.

In addition to videos, it is possible to sell via lives, produced by the brand or creator, and shop windows accessible in the toolbar above the video. The shops also have ad formats such as GMV Max, which promotes products in the feed, and Live GMV Max, which boosts live broadcasts.

Although TikTok Shop eliminates noise in the shopping experience on social networks and gives predictability to partnership numbers, brands need to accept that they have lost total control of the narrative. Success depends on providing creators with information that helps them produce effective content, manage affiliate programmes and select products in line with the context of the purchasing decision: emotional, impulsive and generally with a lower average ticket.

What's still to come in Brazil

In the United States, the platform subsidised discounts in partnership with brands, offered almost symbolic freight and assigned sales representatives by category to encourage use. Brands even sold products with a 50 % discount subsidised by TikTok Shop. Even after two years, the American operation still receives monthly updates, and many of the promised tools should arrive in Brazil.

In the Brazilian market, there is already a clear division between the Seller Centre (product management, deliveries and logistics) and the Affiliate Centre (search and creator management). The categories available include beauty and health, fashion, home and decoration, electronics and sports, and the Live Shopping feature was released a few weeks after its debut.

One eagerly awaited feature, which has yet to be launched, is "refundable samples": brands send products to beginner creators and, once they have reached certain sales targets or published content, they can request a refund and join the affiliate programme permanently.

Thus, TikTok Shop shortens the distance between entertainment and purchase, but requires brands to adapt to the loss of narrative control and creators to act like entrepreneurs. Those who grasp this dynamic quickly are likely to reap the best results.

*Danilo Nunes is a professor at ESPM, a researcher in Creator Economy and CVO and the partner in charge of Thruster Creative Strategy , an agency specialising in creation with a focus on performance, with national and international operations.