TikTok Shopping Is Really Happening in U.K., New Research Claims

LONDON — Amazon is facing some competition: New research from digital marketing agency Croud claims that almost 10 percent of U.K. shoppers have used TikTok for online shopping.

The report, “The state of online fashion in 2021,” surveyed more than 1,000 shoppers in the U.K., U.S., Germany and Italy and also revealed that when asked where they start their journey when looking for clothing or footwear online, in addition to TikTok, 28 percent of U.K. shoppers said they do so on Instagram, 18 percent on Facebook and 7 percent on Snapchat.

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Emil Bielski, managing director of U.K. at Croud, said: “It’s noteworthy that a considerable amount of U.K. shoppers have used TikTok, a relatively new app, to start their fashion shopping journey — especially when you compare it to the likes of Facebook or Snapchat, which have been around for many years. This suggests that the age of a social platform is not a barrier to its success in commerce; rather, it comes down to the experience it can provide to the right audiences on the app.”

During the pandemic, some 36 percent of survey respondents said they had purchased an item of clothing or footwear by clicking on a social ad or post in the last year, and some 54 percent of U.K. respondents said they expect to purchase clothing online more in the next six months, indicating that the trend is here to stay.

At the same time, the report shows that some 33 percent of U.K. respondents said they were concerned about privacy when shopping on social commerce platforms. It is the highest percentage for this factor compared to their American, German, and Italian counterparts in the research.

Asos, Next, Amazon, M&S and H&M are the top five most popular retailers for U.K. shoppers to purchase clothing, while Asos, Amazon, Next, Nike and Clarks are the top five most popular retailers for U.K. shoppers to purchase footwear, the report revealed.

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