TikTok: I make more going live for an hour than one day in the shop
Laura Mallows knows she is a poster girl for TikTok's live shopping business."I make more in an hour going live, than a day spent in the shop," she said.A boom in online sales prompted Ms Mallows' decision to close her flagship beauty store in Cardiff, instead selling her company's body scrubs and skincare through TikTok's live shopping stream.But since the popularity of her products surged and hit the shelves in Superdrug and Boots, she is now pursuing her "dream" of opening a real-world shop once more.
Selling on TikTok requires a good product and a personality that attracts buyers to watch live as orders are packed on camera.The social media platform, which plays host to more than 6,000 live shopping sessions every day, fulfills orders on behalf of sellers.Anyone using the platform can access training and guides to help them join some of the 200,000 small and medium-sized businesses who are already there.
A small room, decorated for a TikTok audience, allows the team behind Mallows Beauty to sell products directly from their office in Llantrisant, south Wales."The progress has been wild," said Ms Mallows.It's a process that also attracts instant feedback."People will definitely tell me if they think we're doing something right or doing something wrong."And I think the big deal for me is that we're just in this little office in Wales, and you don't realise the impact."I'll post videos thinking I'm just posting videos to my friends, and I don't really think about it – not until you get recognized in New York, and people come up to you and ask for your selfies."
But despite so many people turning to this new way of buying, the UK's high streets showed a surprising surge in shoppers last month.Footfall increased by 6.6% in January compared to the same month in 2024, according to the British Retail Consortium.It poses a dilemma for sellers like Ms Mallows, 33, who thrive online but also want a slice of real-world shoppers.Ms Mallows is now once again focussed on opening her own shop.While her business has boomed on TikTok, the platform has strict rules which prevent sellers from pointing to other platforms and some products are restricted. Sellers say some words are banned and alluding to a personal website can lead to accounts being suspended.
The ambition to straddle both social media sales and the high street is being watched closely by the British Retail Consortium. Its Welsh spokesperson, Sara Jones, said 2025 would be the year of "smart shopping" by consumers."We're going to see both clicks and bricks," she said, with "digital, online and in-store shopping experiences" being offered to shoppers."Those retailers that are going to do really well this year are going to be the ones that harness digital technology to encourage people back both to the high street, but alongside their online offering."Others are turning to platforms like TikTok shop to sell direct to customers after growth slowed through their existing online and high street outlets."It has doubled our sales," said Shoned Owen, whose fake tan products Tanya Whitebits proved popular since she started selling them live online.
"I think people are craving live content. I attended a workshop in 2024 and it was predicted that live content was going to explode on TikTok during 2025."I thought, I've got to jump on this trend."As well as doubling her sales over the course of the year, Ms Owen said she had to "familiarise" herself with the rules of selling on TikTok.There are "certain keywords you can't use, you can't direct them to your website or other sales channels", she said, and "you can't vape, you can't smoke, there's no nudity on TikTok".
Ms Owen still sells through high street shops, and wants to recruit staff to help promote her online sales."My long term plan is that I'm looking at recruiting staff," she said."Hopefully there will be employment opportunities for local people, because obviously they'll have to be local to work in in the TikTok shop - and to do a live."TikTok said its live shopping was "like an extension of the brilliance of brick and mortar stores"."Through live shopping and shoppable content, TikTok shop allows their products to be discovered by millions and for them to create communities based on human connection in a way that no other online platform can," said the head of TikTok Shop, Jan Wilk.He said the platform had a "positive impact on the high street at large" as a "halo effect" often touched businesses who found that products trending on TikTok then became popular in high street stores.
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