The Race for Social Shopping is Wide Open; OnlyFans CEO Speaks Out

Nearly every social network now offers some sort of in-app shopping, including Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest. And why not? These features could lead to new sources of income, say by sales commissions, and help attract creators, who often promote products. But despite the wide interest, it’s not clear how successful any of them have been.

On Tuesday, TikTok made a major move into e-commerce, announcing it is pilot-testing TikTok Shopping with a group of Shopify merchants in the U.S., U.K. and Canada in the coming weeks. Shopify merchants will now be able to send TikTok users directly to their online store for checkout, making it easier to buy things people find on the short-form video app. That’s important because the fewer steps to make a purchase, the more likely a customer won’t drop off during the process.