The rise of TikTok Shop is bringing an end to a related product. Starting on September 12, the digital storefronts brought to TikTok by third-party partner Shopify will be inaccessible, according to a recent update on TikTok’s Business Help Center.
Shopify brought its digital merch shops to TikTok after inking a 2021 agreement, which expanded a preexisting partnership between the two companies. The resulting “storefronts” facilitated direct-to-consumer sales for creators at a time when TikTok’s first-party ecommerce options were still lacking — especially in the United States.
TikTok’s Shopify partnership attracted high-profile users, including Kylie Jenner’s Kylie Cosmetics. But as TikTok expands its eponymous Shop in the West, it is pulling resources away from its Shopify integration.
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“Here at TikTok, we are committed to building native, engaging, and entertaining shopping experiences that empower you to meaningfully engage with customers and grow your business,” reads the Help Center post. “As the retail industry changes rapidly, we are committed to enhancing and expanding our product offering to meet your evolving needs. That’s why we built TikTok Shop.”
Beginning on the 12th, products will no longer be visible within TikTok’s Shopify storefronts, and the product will become unavailable on videos, live streams, and ads. To continue selling their merch, creators can migrate to TikTok Shop. Once they do, their preexisting Shopify storefronts will be disconnected.
TikTok’s decision could help its Shop grow in territories where it has taken some time to catch on. The ByteDance-owned app’s first-party storefronts are only part of its ecommerce plans; it’s also building the infrastructure it needs to sell and ship products directly to users.
That shift helps explain the difficulties encountered by some independent vending platforms over the past year. Spring sold to Amaze last November, and Fanjoy filed for bankruptcy earlier this month.
Shopify still offers plenty of value to creators. Rick Watson, the CEO of RMW Commerce Consulting, told Insider that Shopify’s cross-platform support will allow it to maintain its status as a key ecommerce platform. “There is really no precedent for a social-media-marketing e-commerce site to threaten one of the major e-commerce platforms, and I don’t expect it to happen this time either,” Watson said.
TikTok declined to comment on the Insider report. Shopify told the outlet that it has no news to share about storefronts.
