From the first moment shoppers could make purchases online, e-commerce has had an ever-greater presence in people’s lives.
But for all its technological advances, e-commerce for the most part still can’t match the satisfying experience of in-store shopping with staffers who personally hear customers’ needs, respond with empathy, answer questions, and even offer impromptu deals or discounts in person and in real time.
While most brands still fall short of that ideal shopping experience, some are starting to grow audiences and revenue quickly and incrementally through TikTok Shop’s unique discovery commerce offering: an emerging strategy that integrates the convenience of e-commerce with the immersive and personalized experience of shopping in real life. To boost businesses’ efforts to break through, build loyal communities, and attract incremental value, TikTok Shop has developed a playbook for enterprise businesses that offers a framework for how to scale business on this channel.
The key elements to this new online shopping experience are shoppable videos and LIVE shopping sessions. This authentic, entertaining, highly targeted messaging from brands’ founders and trusted creators helps consumers browse, explore, and ask questions about products in real time—and then purchase through seamless digital transactions.
Across all categories, including food, beauty, fashion, electronics, and homecare, discovery commerce lets small businesses and brands demonstrate products in genuine contexts. Through shoppable video and live streaming, consumers of all generations make new discoveries as they engage with authentic, appealing content.
By allowing buyers and sellers to communicate to inform purchasing decisions, just like you would in a physical store, these helpful interactions encourage seamless purchases and lasting loyalty.
Getting Started with Strategy
Discovery commerce may seem straightforward, but it might not be as easy for big enterprise businesses. It requires a commitment to building integrated multidisciplinary teams guided by data-driven strategy.
This insight became the basis of the MAGIC framework: a five-pronged strategy that can help brands get more out of TikTok Shop as a tool to reach new customers and build sales.
• M: Make success measurable.
Set strategic goals for your discovery commerce campaign, such as increasing brand awareness or conversions, and apply key performance indicators (KPIs) to assess the effectiveness of your activations.
• A: Ensure accountability.
A discovery commerce strategy integrates several teams across the enterprise, including advertising, content, and e-commerce sales and fulfillment. That requires these teams to coordinate and collaborate with agility and transparency.
• G: Go all-in.
Discovery commerce depends on getting the full buy-in from the C-suite. Executives must trust their multidisciplinary team to work quickly and decisively with creators and on such factors as product strategy, pricing, and operations, so they can produce content that connects with audiences.
• I: Form an integrated
A responsive, agile discovery commerce team involves a strategy leader working with three operations: shop ops, responsible for e-commerce inventory and customer service; content ops, producing the video or live messaging internally or with outside creators; and ad ops, managing and monitoring the content’s performance and returns on investment.
• C: Content, content, content.
Getting content right—ensuring it’s original, authentic, informative, and entertaining—calls for a commitment to quality and an experimental spirit. That will need an agile approach with plans to work with a wide selection of creators and to test results and recalibrate as you go.
TikTok Shop Discovery Commerce in Action
When a brand shares authentic content and an appealing product with an audience that appreciates both, the potential power of discovery commerce is easy to see.
In early 2025, the U.K. brand of Germany-based supermarket chain Lidl used discovery commerce strategy to drive two flash sensations that sold out in the blink of an eye.
In March, Lidl promoted a limited-edition Dubai Style chocolate bar by producing LIVE shopping and shoppable videos, posted from the retailer’s TikTok handle as well as from @mariavehera257, a popular food creator. Lidl posted the video at 9 a.m. and had sold out its entire 6,000-unit run, available exclusively on TikTok Shop, before 10:30.
The retailer also got a similar response when it used TikTok Shop to promote limited-edition bundles of high-protein bars, powders, and drinks. That inventory sold out its 3,000 units in just 18 minutes.
ASOS, a U.K.–based fast-fashion retailer, aimed a recent campaign at “fashion-loving-20-somethings,” tapping TikTok creators to shoot and post unboxing videos, “get ready with me,” and videos about fashion trends promoting ASOS products. ASOS exceeded its customer-acquisition target: more than half of its transactions were with new customers, nearly half of them between ages 18 and 24.
In 2024, cosmetics giant L’Oréal Paris was selected for the first Tik Tok Shop Super Brand Day, blending digital in-app and in-real-life experiences. With exclusive product launches, a 12-hour LIVE shopping event streamed onto London’s iconic Piccadilly light screen, and thousands of creators producing shoppable videos, L’Oréal achieved a 6.24x gross merchandise value (GMV) uplift over the previous period.
A Playbook for Enterprise
Although discovery commerce can yield quick results, getting a brand fully aligned across an agile, autonomous group with executive-level support isn’t simple, and it doesn’t happen by accident.
A detailed new guide, Discovery commerce: a playbook for enterprise, offers inspiration to any organization that may have the right product in mind for a campaign that connects a creator’s appealing content with an audience ready for a shopping experience as rewarding as shopping in person. When everything aligns, discovery commerce can be a great discovery for your brand, too.
Learn more about how to use this bold strategy to your advantage in TikTok Shop U.K.’s new guide, Discovery commerce: a playbook for enterprise.