of Gen Z uses TikTok as their primary search engine to find the next product to buy. Source: Sprout Social 2026 Content Strategy Report.
As I'm writing this, someone is buying a moisturizer while watching a TikTok video without ever leaving the app. Someone else is purchasing a pair of shoes between one reel and the next. All in 30 seconds, frictionless, without breaking the flow of content.
This is TikTok Shop. And in Italy, we're still almost completely behind compared to what's happening in the rest of the world.
The context you need to understand
In China, live shopping on TikTok (Douyin) generates hundreds of billions of dollars every year. In the USA, the number of livestream shoppers grew by 21% in 2025 alone. In the UK, TikTok Shop is already the fourth marketplace by sales volume.
In Italy? We're still in the early stages. Most companies see TikTok as a channel for teenagers — not as a serious sales engine. That's a huge mistake, and an equally huge opportunity for those who get it now.
How TikTok Shop works in practice
TikTok Shop lets you integrate a product catalog directly into the app. Products appear in videos with a clickable link overlaid. The user clicks, adds to cart, pays — all without leaving TikTok. Zero friction, zero drop-off from context switching.
There are three main ways to sell on TikTok Shop:
Shoppable videos: regular videos with tagged products. The user sees the video, sees the product, clicks, buys.
Live shopping: livestreams where you showcase products in real time. The audience asks questions, you answer, products get purchased during the stream with exclusive offers.
Affiliate marketing: independent creators promote your products and earn a commission. You don't even have to create the content.
The strategy that works in 2026
Technical setup first. Connect Shopify to TikTok Shop through the official integration. Sync your product catalog. Configure the TikTok pixel to track conversions. This is the foundation — without it, you can't do anything.
Native content, not ads. The TikTok audience is allergic to traditional advertising. Videos that convert are authentic, informal, almost improvised. Real unboxings, practical tutorials, honest before/afters, behind-the-scenes footage. Production perfection is the fastest way to lose credibility on TikTok.
Spark Ads: amplify what already works. Don't make the mistake of spending on advertising content that doesn't already have organic engagement. First publish organically, wait to see which videos perform, then amplify them with Spark Ads. It's much more efficient than creating ad content from scratch.
Micro creators, not macro. Creators with 10,000-50,000 followers in a specific niche typically convert better than macro-influencers with millions of followers. The reason is simple: their audience is more loyal and engaged. A home cooking creator with 30,000 genuine followers is worth much more than a celebrity with a million distracted fans.
The first-mover advantage
In Italy, TikTok Shop is still underutilized. Advertising costs are lower than Meta and Google. Competition is almost nonexistent in most sectors. The audience is still relatively unexposed to commercial messaging.
This won't last long. Within 12-18 months, every serious brand will have a structured TikTok Shop presence. The advantage of entering now is building authority, a follower base, and sales history before the market gets crowded.