Fast Five Shorts | TikTok To Add Direct Product Links To Posts
In the latest edition of Omni Talk’s Retail Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Avalara, Mirakl, Ownit AI, and Ocampo Capital Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga discuss: TikTok Adding Direct Product Links To Posts
For the full episode head here: https://youtu.be/xDKKCu9Alfk
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Transcript
TikTok is testing product links within its posts According to modern retail, TikTok is letting some creators add product links from third party affiliate networks including Amazon, Walmart and Target, directly into their posts with a new integration.
Speaker A:TikTok declined to provide an on the record statement for this story, but a company spokesperson said the new integration is part of a test available to a limited number of creators.
Speaker A:As such, it is not an official program, but TikTok is collecting feedback from the initiative.
Speaker A:TikTok's latest approach to affiliate market marketing marks a significant departure from the creator's earlier reliance on link and bio tools like Link Tree.
Speaker A:With the new integration, product links show up at the top of a post comment section, reducing the number of steps a shopper has to take to navigate to a creator's recommended products.
Speaker A:Chris, are you excited that you know, now you're going to potentially be able to get to your products faster on when you're scrolling on TikTok testing direct links to products within your product posts, are you excited?
Speaker B:Oh and I'm not going to take long on this because this is definitely more your value than it is mine.
Speaker B:But yes, I love this, I love this idea.
Speaker B:I hate, I absolutely loathe the whole Lincoln bio thing.
Speaker B:It drives me absolutely insane and but what I find more interesting about this is that it positions, it positions TikTok almost said Instagram.
Speaker B:It positions TikTok more as a creator conduit versus as the actual marketplace for the goods which if that is the road this does end up going down, it does beg the question of whether anyone in the US market can bridge commerce and social end to end versus instead linking out to retailers own sites like, like this is basically showcasing.
Speaker B:So yeah, because the US retailers don't want that end to end thing to happen.
Speaker B:The US retailers want to keep control and Facebook has direct pivoted away from its marketplace.
Speaker B:Amazon has tried and failed numerous times with social and so it is.
Speaker B:So my question is, is the same Fate destined for TikTok here just to remain in advertising and a social commerce vehicle?
Speaker B:And you know if this takes off I think chances are, if I was a betting man, I think chances are that the answer to that could be yes.
Speaker B:But, but man, I'm dying to hear what you think about this.
Speaker A:Being able to add product links like this as a creator directly to your posts is critical, especially for like you said, the future of TikTok and their social commerce kind of economy.
Speaker A:It was something that you could do if you're, you know, your product was selling through TikTok shops, like you said, but that's very limiting for a lot of the creators.
Speaker A:Like, most of these creators are working across, you know, these aggregator affiliate programs.
Speaker A:Um, and that's how they're.
Speaker A:It's quicker, it's easier for them to make money doing this.
Speaker A:And that's really, at its core, like, that's what you have to empower in order to, you know, get adoption on this type of platform.
Speaker A:So I love this idea.
Speaker A:I think it's.
Speaker A:It's putting TikTok squarely in competition with YouTube, which has allowed creator links to be embedded in their videos.
Speaker A:Right now, you're enabling more nano influencers to get on the platform and to become relevant to brands, which we heard from John Denis Marian, the former CDO of Coty, in our firework interview yesterday, is where, where the future of social commerce is going.
Speaker A:So I think that's the key thing here.
Speaker A:Not only is it allowing these creators that TikTok's testing with to make this process more simple, but it's going to allow more people to get on the platform to start selling products.
Speaker A:And all in all, that's better for customers and better for brands.
Speaker A:So I love it.
Speaker B:Yeah, I think that's a great point.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I think ultimately the experience is clunky for what consumers want to do, which is buy things they get inspired to buy.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And so, you know, if this is one step forward to making that experience less clunky, you know, I personally am all for it.
