E-commerce is booming and more than ever, local business owners are discovering the vast potential online shopping holds, and which they have yet to tap into. The numbers prove it. Data from the Department of Statistics Malaysia show that Malaysia recorded a total of RM279 billion in e-commerce income in the third quarter of 2021 - a leap of 17.1% from the quarter the year before. This means Malaysians are embracing online shopping to make purchases on a regular basis.

As part of the TikTok's plans to support local businesses and provide growth opportunities accessible to SMEs of all categories and sizes, the short-form mobile video platform launched TikTok Shop in April last year, an innovative shopping feature that brings together sellers, buyers and content creators in one place. This benefits, in particular, micro businesses that did not have a brick-and-mortar store due to the high initial outlay required.

TikTok Shop offers a suite of e-commerce solutions sellers can take advantage of by selling directly through their TikTok account. Powered natively within the platform, items are recommended to users through in-feed videos, livestreams and a product showcase tab prominently featured on sellers' TikTok profile page - all of which can help boost orders, sales performance and video views. Sellers are able to manage the entire e-commerce process from end to end - covering the uploading of products, point of purchase, shipping, and fulfilment - without having to leave the TikTok app.

For users, the recently introduced TikTok Shop Shopping Center feature also provides an enhanced shopping experience. It serves as a central hub where users can easily discover promotions (such as campaigns and flash sales), a wider assortment of products from across TikTok Shop merchants, as well as manage their orders all within the Shop tab. The feature's intuitive navigation makes for a fun, exciting shopping experience that provides great convenience.

Buyers are increasingly looking for immersive shopping experiences driven by entertaining content and brands recognising this huge market potential are moving their business from offline (physical stores) to online (e-commerce). Through TikTok Shop's unique "Shoppertainment" approach, sellers are able to entertain their audiences through a combination of shoppable videos and livestreaming - allowing them to showcase their creativity, connect with their viewers and be discovered by the community, opening up opportunities for their businesses to continuously thrive.

CHRISTY NG and realme Malaysia are two brands that leveraged TikTok's high user engagement rate to capture a wider audience pool via TikTok Shop. Through a combination of creative content, livestreams and promotional campaigns, they have been able to grow their following on the platform and achieve breakthrough sales in a short period of time.

CHRISTY NG (tiktok.com/@christyngshoes) began making women's footwear in their own living room in 2012 and opened its first physical store in 1 Utama Shopping Centre in 2016. This was followed by 10 more stores across the country. The brand later expanded to include women's handbags to complement its footwear collections. To cater to a growing following, CHRISTY NG launched an e-commerce platform so it could reach a global customer base.

The brand recognised that conventional e-commerce platforms have limited capacity to entice shoppers to make purchases as they do not allow interaction with visitors to the site. Realising that engagement with shoppers is the crucial element that will provide insight into buyers' needs and their decision-making process, CHRISTY NG decided to explore TikTok Shop's potential to increase its brand visibility to a wider audience and boost sales. TikTok's massive young following also gave CHRISTY NG the leverage it needed to access an untapped category of shoppers for the brand - the Generation Z crowd.

CHRISTY NG began participating in TikTok Shop promotional campaigns in November 2022. It found that the platform's livestream feature provided the avenue it needed to engage with customers - to answer questions as well as promote new releases, features and bestsellers. The brand's sales doubled within a month and from then on it has been achieving consistent month-on-month sales growth.

CHRISTY NG followers on TikTok grew to 106,000 in six months (since October 2022) and the number is still increasing. The brand aims to double the number of followers when it hits its one-year mark in October. On the content front, it has successfully achieved a number of trending videos, which contributed to significant sales growth. To date, CHRISTY NG has achieved a Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of RM500,000.

realme Malaysia (tiktok.com/@realme.my) is an emerging global consumer technology company disrupting the smartphone and artificial intelligence of things (AIoT) market by making cutting-edge technologies available to more consumer segments.

Established by Sky Li in 2018 and driven by its "Dare to Leap" spirit, realme is the world's sixth largest smartphone company and it has risen to become one the top three smartphone brands in Malaysia in just two years. Since 2021, realme has penetrated 61 markets worldwide, including China and Southeast Asia, South Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa, and has a global user base of over 100 million.

The brand's range of quality smartphones and lifestyle technology devices that are equipped with premium specifications and trend-setting designs carry affordable price tags with young consumers in mind.

With fewer people walking into physical stores to browse products and more making their purchase decisions online, realme Malaysia looked into how it could tap into TikTok's high number of active young followers to reach out to this group of potential consumers. As peer recommendations carry a lot of weight, realme Malaysia's strategy of capitalising on the influence of creators to promote the brand's content on TikTok led to engaging conversations that generated a remarkable increase in the number views, likes and followers.

In a short time, realme Malaysia's official TikTok account gained 112,000 followers and hit 470,000 content likes. During the TikTok Shop 6.6 Birthday Campaign held in June, the brand achieved a daily GMV increase of 280% and was ranked number one in the mobile phone and tablet category. To date, it has achieved a GMV over RM750,000. realme Malaysia aims to double its sales target on TikTok Shop over the next three months and continue to capture new followers with quality content.

Learn more about how to start selling on TikTok Shop and discover how Shoppertainment can revolutionise local businesses.