With One Product Sold Every Second, Is TikTok Shop Redefining the Future of Beauty and Retail?

According to a recent Nielsen IQ report, TikTok Shop is now the UK’s fourth-largest beauty retailer, with one product sold every second. This rapid growth is not just about volume — it signals a critical shift in how brands launch, market, and sell, especially in the beauty and luxury sectors.

That said, is TikTok Shop fundamentally transforming how brands connect with consumers and drive sales, or is it simply the latest iteration in the ever-evolving world of digital commerce? As social platforms continue to blur the lines between content, community, and commerce, TikTok Shop stands out as a case study in how discovery, authenticity, and creator-led storytelling are redefining the retail experience.

To explore how TikTok Shop is reshaping brand strategy and consumer engagement, I spoke with Nora Zukauskaite, integrated marketing director at TikTok Shop UK and Europe, to discuss the platform’s swift rise and the new playbook for brands in the digital age.

Zukauskaite pointed out that a significant majority of TikTok’s users (88%) discover products and then engage in purchasing after seeing content on the platform. She suggested that this figure stands out compared to other social channels and that TikTok Shop is more than just a marketing tool; it’s becoming a true commerce channel in its own right.

For example, she described how the “For You” page curates content based on individual user interests, rather than simply relying on follower lists. This approach, she explained, creates a more personalized experience, allowing users to move “from discovery of a product to engaging with the product to checking out,” all within a seamless journey.

Rethinking Strategy for the TikTok Era

Luxury brands, in particular, are finding success on TikTok Shop’s channel-first approach. “We keep seeing phenomenal success of more and more brands onboarding [at a higher price point] on our platform… Barbara Strum, Shark Ninja, which just had like a really extraordinary super brand on our platform, are just a few to mention, and even a bigger conglomerates such as Estee Lauder Group recently announced that they will be strategically prioritizing TikTok Shop as one of their expansion channels,” Zukauskaite said.

However, the path to success on TikTok Shop isn’t about simply transplanting traditional retail strategies onto a new platform. The debate now centers on how brands must fundamentally rethink their approach, both in mindset and in day-to-day operations, to truly leverage the platform’s potential.

For one, internal organization and cross-functional collaboration become critical. The brands seeing the most traction are those that place TikTok Shop at the core of their commercial strategy, rather than treating it as an add-on channel. This often means restructuring teams and workflows to respond quickly to trends and feedback and ensuring that decision-makers from marketing, content, and commerce are working closely together, explained Zukauskaite.

Another key point of discussion is content strategy. Success on TikTok Shop is tied to content that feels native to the platform, often user-generated or creator-led, and always authentic. The question here is about how brands can balance control over their messaging with the creative freedom that resonates with TikTok’s audience. Zukauskaite advised that for content to be genuinely shoppable, brands need to think about how products are demonstrated, how product sets are curated, and how presenters or brand ambassadors are activated within the TikTok ecosystem.

Unlearning Control: The New Brand Playbook

One of the biggest challenges for established brands is learning to let go of strict brand guidelines and trust the community.

“TikTok Shop and shoppable content is just like any content on our platform. It’s very different from the way the brand is probably shown on the glossy covers of a magazine. It’s very UGC focused, it’s very user-generated content… it’s a lot more in real settings and real environments,” Zukauskaite explained.

For many luxury brands, finding the right balance between maintaining brand integrity and embracing creator-led, authentic storytelling can take time. “At times it takes a while for luxury brands to find that safeguard or that comfortable and convenient spot in between strict brand guidelines and in between giving the product for thousands and thousands of our creators in our community, which essentially helps you to advocate and make that conversion,” she noted.

She pointed out Marc Jacobs as a standout example: “Marc Jacobs… had a really unique point of view and managed to find this, content-wise, a very sweet spot without losing the brand integrity, and really out like catching the attention of our community.”

No Golden Formula — But Plenty of Opportunity

When I asked about the secret to TikTok Shop’s success, Zukauskaite didn’t sugarcoat it: “I’m sorry to disappoint and to tell you that there is no golden formula… my strong advice would be really think about the three Cs.” The three Cs (what she describes as the “famous flywheel”) are: community, creators, and content.

She emphasized the importance of experimentation, however. “A lot of our platform, especially for newcomers or new players when you just join… [is about] trial and test momentum,” she explained. “So really trying different things, testing different aspects of the shoppable video from demonstration to education, doing different lives at different lengths on different days, is really paramount to understanding and [starting to build] the presence on the platform.”

The Future: Live Shopping and Beyond

Looking ahead, Zukauskaite predicts that live shopping will become a staple of the everyday retail experience. “Just end of last year, we saw 6,000 live sessions every single day on our platform, and that number is really increasing,” she said.

She also emphasized the importance of creating a personalized shopping experience — one where consumers feel a genuine connection to brands and the people behind them. She noted that when shoppers can interact, ask for advice, and discover products in an engaging, joyful way, it enhances the entire purchasing journey.

The platform’s pitch is clear, but the model raises questions, too. Can brands sustain loyalty in a space where attention spans are short and trends move faster than inventory cycles? Does performance on TikTok translate to long-term brand equity, or is it just a new kind of impulse buy?

What’s clear is that TikTok Shop is pushing the industry to rethink how and where retail happens. Whether it’s a foundational shift or a fast-moving phase remains to be seen.