TikTok World: Introducing Shopping Ads

Update: As of January 2023, Catalog Listing Ads is no longer available as a standalone format, but is now part of Video Shopping Ads. Many of the Catalog Listing Ads features referenced in this article are still available to advertisers using the Video Shopping Ads format.

The TikTok community has reinvented the way products are discovered and sold, replacing the traditional marketing funnel with an infinite loop, where the joy of discovery never ends.

Shopping Ads is a simpler, smarter, and more advanced ad solution that helps brands meet shoppers wherever they are in the purchase journey, sparking demand and boosting sales. We tapped into this phenomenon with the release of Content to Cart.

Shopping Ads simplifies the media buying experience, with three new advertising formats using one buying objective, Product Sales, in TikTok Ads Manager. All three formats come with smarter, more advanced targeting, allowing e-commerce marketers to reach customers who are more likely to convert.

Three new ad formats, one buying objective

• Video Shopping Ads, available for testing globally, places hyper-relevant, shoppable videos across the For You page for new customers to discover and buy products. Designed with smarter targeting, Video Shopping Ads put your products in front of users who are more likely to buy.

• With Catalog Listing Ads, merchants can get started with just their catalog—no other assets needed! Showcase products alongside other merchants in new shoppable destinations—where users with relevant interests and higher purchase intent can discover and buy.

• LIVE Shopping Ads are designed to drive engagement from the For You page to LIVE Shopping events, so that they can join the experience and discover new products. Not only do LIVE Shopping Ads boost traffic to LIVE events, but just like other Shopping Ads formats, they're also designed to get products in front of the shoppers more likely to buy.

Check out how Shopping Ads are working for some of our early advertisers: American Eagle, Wonderskin, Bushbalm and BARDI Home.

Connect signals and catalog to get started

More signals unlock more opportunities to convert, so in order to test Shopping Ads, you'll need to share advanced signals for full-funnel events with TikTok, such as View Product Page, Add to Cart, and Complete Purchase. Additionally, we're asking that you sync your product catalog. If you're curious to learn more about the importance of signals for your e-commerce campaigns, check out our article here.

Partners available for Shopping Ads testing

We know that many brands and advertisers rely on partner integrations to streamline their day-to-day, so we're excited to highlight the partners that are available for Shopping Ads testing.

• Ads & Campaign Partner: Smartly.io

• Catalog Feed Partner: ProductsUp

• Commerce Partners: Shopify, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, ECWID by Lightspeed

TikTok Shop and Shopping Ads are better together

You may be asking yourself: Do I need TikTok Shop to use Shopping Ads? The answer is no. You can start using Shopping Ads without TikTok Shop. And while these solutions are powerful on their own, Shopping Ads and TikTok Shop work better together, unlocking more capabilities and better performance, like advanced features within Video Shopping Ads as well as full access to LIVE Shopping and LIVE Shopping Ads.

Learn more about Shopping Ads here.

To start testing Shopping Ads, follow our checklist to connect your signals and catalog.

Availability

• Video Shopping Ads: Testing globally for eligible merchants

• Catalog Listing Ads: Testing in the US and eligible merchants targeting the US

• LIVE Shopping Ads: Testing where TikTok Shop is available in the UK, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and with allowlisted accounts in the US.