I have reported many times that TikTok really, really wants to get people buying products in-stream, so it'll come as little surprise that the platform is making a big push on shopping features this holiday season.

The company said the 2024 holiday shopping activations would include celebrity-led shopping live streams, as well as big sales, with big discounts from major brands. And if that's not enough to get more people buying stuff in the app, I'm not sure what is, because TikTok has clearly signed some major commercial deals for this year's shopping push.

There are the celebrities, then: TikTok is hosting a lineup of celebrity-presented live streams, from the D'Amelio family to Nicki Minaj.

As per TikTok:

"Some of the [TikTok]'s record-breaking creators are hosting TikTok LIVE shopping events, sharing products from their brands and others they love in real-time, to get their audiences excited about holiday shopping.".

Nicki Minaj is especially a big win for the app, and I only have been able to begin to imagine what they are paying her to make an appearance.

One of the key components of TikTok's shopping push in China, where live-stream shopping has become a big trend, the company hopes for a similar takeoff in the West. Nicki Minaj will certainly help that cause, while the stream also is likely to elicit some viral moments that'll spur the further promotion of TikTok shopping engagement.

TikTok is also hosting a variety of major brands, offering major discounts as part of its shopping activations for the season.

"The deals are going next level across all categories because of our holiday campaign dubbed as "Brand Palooza." Starting this Nov 13 to 28, top brands will be taking the spotlight on TikTok Shop with deals going up to 55%, like Phillips, Maybelline NY, Benefit Cosmetics, Liquid IV, HeyDude, Fenty Beauty, and The Ordinary Store.

Hey, did you know the term "palooza"  actually refers to an "extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance." Go figure, right?

TikTok is also extending the return window for all purchases made during the event, with shoppers able to return items up to Feb. 10th.

Some good reasons, at least, to give TikTok's shopping features a look, and you can guarantee that the addition of Nicki Minaj, especially, will be a major draw.

And again, TikTok really wants people to buy stuff in stream, in order to follow the lead of its Chinese sister app, which now generates hundreds of billions of dollars from in-app shopping.
Of course, Asian shopping trends do not automatically translate to Western markets, but with literally hundreds of billions, potentially, on the line-the Chinese version of TikTok generated over $500 billion in product sales last year-there is very clear motivation for TikTok to keep up its in-stream shopping push, and to offer as many incentives to get people involved as it can.

And even though it's miles from the same scale, users in TikTok are spending more and more in-app.

It is unclear whether any social app will figure out how to productively integrate in-stream shopping into the platform, but it's still in hopes that the younger consumers will end up being the driver for the next shift. And it's clear in these holiday promotions from TikTok that this is just another step in a broader effort.