eCommerce Podcast TikTok Shop is Changing Everything for eCommerce Demand Generation | Jordan West
In this eye-opening conversation, Matt Edmundson chats with Jordan West about the transformative potential of TikTok Shop for e-commerce brands of all sizes. Jordan reveals how TikTok Shop has fundamentally changed affiliate marketing for e-commerce by incentivising creators to sell products rather than simply promote them.
Unlike traditional influencer marketing where brands struggle to get meaningful content from product seeding, TikTok Shop creates a system where creators are motivated to produce multiple pieces of content for each sample they receive. Jordan shares how his agency helped a major shoe brand go from zero searches on TikTok to 800,000 searches in just two weeks, demonstrating TikTok Shop's power as a demand generation channel.
The conversation explores the stark differences between TikTok affiliate marketing and traditional approaches, with Jordan explaining that smaller creators (even those with fewer than 10,000 followers) can generate significant sales when properly motivated. His 80/20 approach to creator sampling provides a practical framework for brands looking to maximise their return on investment when engaging TikTok creators.
I wonder if the most valuable insight might be how TikTok content can be repurposed across platforms, while other platforms' content rarely works well on TikTok?
Expert Insights from Jordan West
Jordan West is the founder of Social Commerce Club, an agency specialising in TikTok Shop strategies for e-commerce brands. With extensive experience running his own apparel and accessory brands, Jordan brings practical insights into demand generation for challenging product categories.
His "crawl, walk, run" approach to TikTok Shop has helped major brands like a "billion-dollar shoe company" tap into entirely new audiences, while his frameworks for creator engagement have proven effective for businesses of all sizes.
Jordan's podcast "Secrets to Scaling Your E-commerce Brand" recently hit one million downloads, and he's launching a new initiative called E-commerce OS to help smaller brands solve critical business challenges.
Key Takeaways
1. TikTok Shop as demand generation: Unlike Amazon (demand capture), TikTok Shop excels at creating demand for products through its content-driven algorithm.
2. Creator incentives matter: TikTok creators are motivated to sell products, not just showcase them, making them more like salespeople than traditional influencers.
3. The 80/20 sampling approach: For every 100 samples sent to creators, expect 20 to produce meaningful results, and 4 of those to potentially drive significant sales.
4. Content repurposing advantage: TikTok content can be effectively repurposed across all other platforms, while content from other platforms rarely performs well on TikTok.
5. Size doesn't matter: Creators with relatively small followings can drive significant sales when they create compelling content that resonates with viewers.
6. Persistence beats perfection: Successful TikTok Shop strategies require continuous testing and learning, with a willingness to embrace failure as part of the process.
For more information on how to leverage TikTok Shop for your e-commerce brand, visit our website and check out Jordan's resources at Social Commerce Club.
Resources
Guest & Company
- Jordan's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-west-marketer/
- Social Commerce Club: https://socialcommerceclub.com/
- Secrets of Scaling Your eCommerce Brand Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/secrets-to-scaling-your-ecommerce-brand/id1480733021
Episode-Specific Tools and Software Resources
CData - Competitor research for TikTok Shop
Fast Moss - Alternative to CData for TikTok Shop analytics
Reacher - AI-powered CRM for TikTok Shop (Jordan is an advisor)
Funnel - Social listening tool that captures TikTok Shop content
Airtable - Database/project management platform
Shopify Collabs - Influencer seeding platform
Social Snowball - Creator collaboration tool
Opal App - Phone app blocker (mentioned by Jordan)
eCommerce Podcast Ecosystem
- eCommerce Cohort signup (free monthly calls for eCommerce entrepreneurs) - https://www.ecommerce-podcast.com/cohort
- Matt's LinkedIn Profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattedmundson/
- The eCommerce Podcast Newsletter for show notes and extra insights - https://www.ecommerce-podcast.com/subscribe