--- title: TikTok Influencers May Soon Start Selling Stuff Straight From Their Videos description: 'TikTok videos may soon be selling you stuff: Influencers on TikTok are testing out e-commerce strategies in popular videos.' authors: - name: Kristen Bahler role: Managing Editor url: https://money.com/author/kristen-bahler/ bio: Kristen Bahler has spent more than a decade turning culture, work and consumer spending trends into conversation-driving stories. Today, she leads Money's sponsored content channel and reader-favorite franchises like Best Places to Live and Best Places to Travel. education: Northeastern University, MA Journalism at_money_since: 2016 articles: 52 covers: - Technology - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes social: - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristen-bahler/ published: '2019-11-18T17:37:29.000Z' modified: '2024-04-17T12:25:00.000Z' section: Technology tags: - ecommerce - Social Media - tiktok word_count: 284 canonical: https://money.com/tiktok-shopping-instagram-pinterest/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![TikTok National Security Investigation](https://img.money.com/2019/11/tiktok-shopping-1179486615.jpg) TikTok is experimenting with a feature that would let its [1 billion users worldwide](https://www.wsj.com/articles/tiktok-wades-into-online-shopping-11573854531) buy products featured in videos with just a few clicks. Following in the [footsteps of Instagram](https://money.com/instagram-shopping-checkout-on-instagram-dangers/) and Pinterest, the short form video app — which is monstrously popular among teenagers — has given a handful of its top creators the option to add “shopping cart” URLs to their content. The in-beta link lets TikTok users buy products from each other, without ever leaving the app. TikTok already has sponsored posts from brands, but as *[AdWeek](https://www.adweek.com/digital/tiktok-confirms-its-testing-social-shoppable-videos/)* explains, “Unlike the paid-for video ads from major brands, this offering could theoretically allow any TikToker to turn the platform into a one-stop shop for his or her own online store.” The move is the latest sign of the tech industry's growing interest in [social commerce](https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/5-ways-social-commerce-is-changing-the-way-we-shop/), an idea that's changing the way we shop via the web, social media, and "smart" technology like Amazon Alexa. Last year, Pinterest debuted a feature that lets businesses turn photos of their products into "[visual, actionable ads](https://business.pinterest.com/en/blog/were-expanding-shopping-ads-to-more-businesses)." Instagram, for its part, allows brands to tag product photos with price information and a link to buy directly through the app. Social commerce is still finding its footing in the U.S., but it's a big trend in China, where TikTok is headquartered, according to the *[Wall Street Journal](https://www.wsj.com/articles/tiktok-wades-into-online-shopping-11573854531)**.* TikTok parent company Bytedance, Ltd is one of the world’s most valuable startups, with an estimated value of $75 billion, the *Journal* says. Fabian Bern, founder of the Chinese influencer agency Uplab, told *AdWork* that TikTok's new shopping feature launched first on the Chinese version of the app, Douyin, in early 2018. “The company is known to launch things quietly,” he said. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/tiktok-shopping-instagram-pinterest/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Technology", "item": "https://money.com/technology/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Websites", "item": "https://money.com/websites/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "TikTok Influencers May Soon Start Selling Stuff Straight From Their Videos" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/tiktok-shopping-instagram-pinterest/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/tiktok-shopping-instagram-pinterest/", "name": "TikTok Influencers May Soon Start Selling Stuff Straight From Their Videos", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2019-11-18T17:37:29.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/tiktok-shopping-instagram-pinterest/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/tiktok-shopping-instagram-pinterest/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-17T12:25:00.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "TikTok Influencers May Soon Start Selling Stuff Straight From Their Videos", "articleSection": "Technology", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2019/11/tiktok-shopping-1179486615.jpg", "width": 2740, "height": 1824, "caption": "TikTok National Security Investigation" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Kristen Bahler", "url": "https://money.com/author/kristen-bahler/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/kristen-bahler/#author", "description": "Kristen Bahler has spent more than a decade turning culture, work and consumer spending trends into conversation-driving stories. 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