Barely a year after launching TikTok Shop in Indonesia, our latest research shows that an impressive 44% of consumer brands in Indonesia now operate a TikTok Shop account. This insight is derived from our Indonesia brand panel which tracks more than 800 local and international brands with presence in Indonesia. In this post we take a closer look at adoption trends across consumer categories.  

#1: Beauty (63%)

It is not surprising that Beauty is the most active category, with 63% of all brands – and 87% of local beauty brands – operating a TikTok Shop. It offers the ideal combination of user demographics (the majority of TikTok users as well as content creators are women), and engagement dynamics, as the value of a product demonstration on video, and trust in an independent person such as an influencer, is probably the highest in the beauty category.

#2: Electronics & Appliances (51%)

It is however surprising that Electronics & Appliances would be the #2 most active category. Global brands such as Asus, Lenovo, Nokia, Philips, Samsung, and Sony have all jumped on the TikTok Shop bandwagon. A long list of local brands, such as Sekai, Bardi, and Mito, also operate TikTok Shops, each of which have more than 200,000 followers on their TikTok Shops.

#3: Fashion, Apparel, & Shoes (42%)

Fashion is a category often spoken of alongside beauty – also skewing female, and being one of the first categories to have moved online. But fashion brands are lagging behind their peers in other categories, especially global brands. Whereas 72% of local fashion brands in our panel have a TikTok Shop, less than 10% of global brands do!

#7: Food, Health, & Wellness (26%)

Food, Health, & Wellness is the least active category, but that is not unexpected. Not only because most people do not (yet) associate buying food products with TikTok, but also because of TikTok’s own regulations – most food related sub-categories remain restricted, requiring sellers to seek prior approval from TikTok which involves submitting certifications, testing reports, or other regulatory documentation.

Implications for brands

• TikTok Shop requires consideration if you are not on it already, regardless of which category you’re in. Not only has the platform grown exponentially in user activity and mindshare, it also (at least currently) offers lower commissions than incumbent marketplaces.
  
  
• If you’re not in Indonesia, you may have an opportunity to be an early mover in your market. Indonesia is TikTok’s biggest e-commerce market, and currently the only one where they have a dedicated Shopping Center, akin to the home screen of marketplaces like Shopee or Tokopedia, inside the TikTok app. The company is likely to introduce that to other markets in the region as well.
  
  
• Competition is heating up. As more of your competitors move to TikTok Shop, it becomes important for you to track their activity – products, prices, content strategies – more closely. This data is not easily available right now, but we are building a solution. Interested? Send us a note at info@cube.asia and we’ll be happy to share more.

Below: TikTok in-app Shopping Center in Indonesia