The eCommerce Merchant's Guide to the TikTok Shop Affiliate Program
TikTok Shop is making a big splash.
In 2024, it was responsible for more than two-thirds of sales (that’s 68.1% of gross market value sales) across all social media platforms. And last year, it generated $3.8 billion in sales. Clearly feeling bullish about new markets, the social media giant also launched a series of betas in advance of soon-to-be expansion into Mexico, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain.
Despite a few challenges to its supremacy in North America, the rise of TikTok Shop signals a significant shift in how buyers are finding and purchasing new products — and, ultimately, the omnichannel future of retail more generally. People want to find, evaluate, and make purchases where they live — rather than chasing you down — and they want to feel secure while doing it.
For eCommerce brands, the best way of creating this experience on social commerce may be through the people they already love and follow, and that’s where the TikTok Shop Affiliate program comes in.
(This piece covers the ins and outs of the Affiliate program. We’ve got a separate guide to getting started with TikTok Shop here, including advice for scaling up and integrating TikTok Shop with your existing eCommerce flow.)
What is the TikTok Shop Affiliate program?
The TikTok Shop Affiliate program is a platform that enables TikTok creators to use their influence and creativity to monetize content and promote products from a variety of brands. Creators connect with brands and earn money through affiliate marketing, receiving commissions on sales generated from the products they promote.
The program simplifies the collaboration process between creators and sellers, eliminating the need for complicated outreach and follow-ups. Creators can integrate products seamlessly into their in-feed and LIVE videos, track performance metrics, and forge relationships with brands they love — all within the existing TikTok ecosystem.
Collaborating with TikTok Creators
Put simply, a TikTok Creator is an influential users who produce engaging content to entertain, inform, and influence their followers. They may be a celebrity, an “influencer” in a professional sense, or even an everyday user who creates trends and drives sales. Brands connect with these creators through TikTok Affiliate, using a tab in the seller interface.
Regardless, collaborating with creators opens up new marketing channels for brands by having their products recommended by creators. This could be in monetized videos that feature a buy button or even in a TikTok LIVE feed where they can actively demonstrate your product and answer questions from the audience.
Benefits of Collaborating with TikTok Creators
- Borrowed trust and influence: According to Musefind, 92% of consumers trust an influencer more than an advertisement or traditional celebrity endorsement. That’s not surprising since creators on TikTok are often part of connected, authentic communities — often focused on specific interests. This makes targeting consumers easier, and brands can benefit from having influencers promote their products.
- Instant social proof: Most retailers and eCommerce merchants know the value of a good review – and of social proof more generally. Creators are often trusted for their recommendations and good judgment when it comes to products. (When choosing an influencer for your product, you may want to take this into account: have they built a loyal following of people who trust them or are they simply good at getting people's attention?)
- Increased sales and brand visibility: Ultimately, traditional advertising can only take you so far. TikTok Shop's Affiliate program provides another channel and greater opportunities for sales, combatting the ad fatigue that crushes your ROAS and withers your sales numbers.
How to Connect with TikTok Creators
Alright, we’ve talked about what TikTok Shop Affiliate program is all about, and we’ve also discussed why it’s a significant opportunity for merchants. But now it’s time to walk you through setting it up. The good news is that TikTok has made it extremely easy for you to get started.
Steps to Get Started with the TikTok Shop Creator Program
1. Set up a TikTok Shop seller account. Before you begin selling on TikTok Shop, you need to have an active TikTok Shop seller account. If you’ve already set up, you can skip this step. Otherwise, read our guide on getting started with TikTok Shop for everything you need to begin.
2. Set up your shop and product listings. If you’re already selling online using a platform like Shopify, you can use AfterShip Feed to effortlessly sync inventory and product descriptions between the two. If not, you will need to manually add SKUs to your shop, you are ready for fulfillment – whether you use a 3PL, Fulfilled by TikTok, or your own solution – and your inventory is properly managed to prevent overselling.
3. Decide on what type of commission plan works best for you. The TikTok Shop Affiliate program is a commission-based system with two types of plans for sellers to choose from. You’ll also be able to decide on the products you want to promote and commission rates that can be set from 1% to 80% of the sale.
- Targeted Plan: If you want to manage the affiliate program yourself, an invitation-based commission plan means that only creators you specifically invite can promote your products. Creators can start selling once they accept your invitation.
- Open Plan: Unlike the targeted plan, the open plan is visible to any creator who has qualified as an Affiliate. You still, however, will need to approve them, so very little control is lost. If creators are interested in your products, they will apply to sell and can start doing so once their application is approved by you.
4. Connect with creators. Before you approve a creator, you can use the communications tools in the Seller Center to reach out and ensure they're a good fit for your goals. If you've got specific requirements or recommendations for promoting your product, you can discuss these with them before approval.
5. Consider sending free samples. Sampling can be a great way of encouraging and inspiring creators. It also makes it much easier for them to feature your product in their content — for demonstrations like sponsored make-up tutorials, for instance. Thankfully, you can quickly and easily send samples directly in the Affiliate section (regardless of whether creators are part of a targeted or open plan).
6. Track affiliate orders. Once the orders come rolling in, TikTok Shop provides you with creator analytics so you can see at a glance which creators are generating revenue, when the orders are coming in, and what products are being purchased.
And that’s it! The beauty of the TikTok Shop Affiliate program is that you can start small, with a few select creators, and scale up as you see revenue success.
Best Practices for Successful Collaborations
TikTok has made the process relatively simple. However, there are still some considerations that first-time merchants should be aware of — especially if they've never done influencer marketing before:
- Identifying the right creators: Depending on your brand, your products, and your customers, you will get better results from creators whose values, personal brand, and communities align with your needs. If you sell to a niche audience, for instance, you'll want to use a targeted plan to find specific creators who address potential customers.
- Creating engaging content: The Affiliate program requires influencers to have built an audience of at least 1,000 followers, but this doesn't always mean that their content matches your needs. As you evaluate them, ensure that their channel is full of creative, authentic content that legitimately resonates with your customers. Read the comments, look at who follows them, and take a look at any promotions they're running for other brands.
- Analyzing performance: TikTok Shop features dedicated reporting to understand and double down on top-performing creators and products. Their dashboards let you see at a glance things like revenue generated, estimated commission paid out, and generally how your items are doing. You can then optimize your affiliate strategy to take advantage of high performers.
- Managing scale: If you're dropshipping products or selling just one thing, TikTok Shop can be managed manually. But if you're a retailer or eCommerce merchant with an established presence selling online, adding social commerce to the list of channels you need to manage can feel exceptionally daunting.
AfterShip Feed can help. It allows you to auto-sync products, inventory, and orders between TikTok Shop and major eCommerce platforms like Shopify, Salesforce, and BigCommerce. It simplifies product listing, protects revenue, and streamlines order management so that your time spent in TikTok Shop can be focused on finding the right creators to promote your product.
Trust and Authenticity: Why Creators Are Key
In autumn 2024, AfterShip teamed up with the international market research firm Ipsos to study consumers' behavior and attitudes toward social commerce platforms like TikTok Shop. We wanted to take the temperature of the marketplace and find out how and why different cohorts were adopting social commerce, and we published the results in our Shopper Sentiment Report.
What we found was that while younger buyers said they were likely to shop on social commerce in the future, concerns with trust and security continue to be impediments. Of those who said they never shop on social commerce platforms, 44% of respondents said they would if they trusted the platform more, and a further 28% said they would if the platforms were more secure.
TikTok has been working hard to ensure the safety of buyers, but brands can gain a significant advantage by using trusted influencers to sell their products instead of investing in traditional ads. There are a number of reasons for this:
- TikTok Shop Creators come with pre-established audiences. If your brand isn’t absolutely gigantic, you may struggle to build an audience on TikTok. Creators have already established audiences based on the quality and creativity of their content.
- Creators are more trusted than brands. People are much less likely to trust brands than influencers on social media, especially when it comes to product recommendations.
- Transparency. Influencers who clearly disclose their partnerships with brands demonstrate honesty and integrity. This openness helps consumers understand the nature of the endorsement and respects their right to know, fostering a stronger relationship between the influencer, the brand, and the audience.
Younger generations, in particular, believe they are likely to start using social commerce platforms like TikTok Shop if they haven't already – all they need is a little push.
Making TikTok Shop Affiliate Your Next Sales Channel
Ultimately, the beauty of TikTok Shop Affiliate is that it lets brands sell products in a native, authentic way that complements your existing omnichannel efforts. If you've already launched on TikTok Shop, it's essentially a no-brainer – and if you haven't, it just might be the most compelling reason to start.
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