According to the latest official numbers from the UK TikTok platform, there are more than 300,000 UK registered SMEs that are actively selling through TikTok Shop. The numbers show that the YoY growth rate hit 200%, while sales generated through the TikTok Shop Live sessions rose 55%.
UK TikTok Shop Growth
TikTok launched its e-commerce marketplace in the UK at the end of 2021. At the beginning, the UK TikTok Shop experienced many challenges, mainly due to lower than expected % to register on the marketplace and becoming registered sellers.
However, the numbers have significantly changed from 2024 onwards.
Some of the important figures to mention that underscore the growth of the UK TikTok Shop among sellers and buyers:
- Somewhere between 44% and 57% of Generation Z and millennial UK consumers actively use or buy products directly from the app’s live commerce broadcasts
- Retailers that experience high conversion rates report that strong in-app visibility directly accelerates wholesale partnerships, expansions into physical brick-and-mortar stores, and growth on external retail channels
- The UK purchasers mostly shop from these categories: Beauty and personal care, womenswear, health and wellness, and consumer electronics lead the market, with beauty performing best in the UK due to high visual demonstration conversion rates
TikTok could be held VAT responsible, and treated as the marketplace facilitator for certain sales(like for goods dispatched outside the UK, and under GBP 135), but UK-established sellers are generally responsible for accounting for their own output VAT on domestic sales.