PACE your way to Shoppertainment success

Gone are the days when brands could get attention with promotional content. With ads popping up around every corner of their online journey, one in two consumers today say they’re not in the state of mind to purchase when they see branded content¹.

To get them into that buying mood, brands now need to engage and entertain. Shopping behaviors are shifting in three key ways²:

• 73% of consumers are now influenced by content more than discounts.

• 81% want an all-in-one shopping experience, taking them effortlessly from browse-to-buy.

• 81% also say they connect via content in “fluid” ways across content communities.

In short, consumers today crave what we call Shoppertainment — content-driven commerce that entertains first and sells second. Shoppertainment works by fostering an immersive shopping experience through content and community integration.

So, how can your brand get a slice of that pie? At TikTok, we’re helping brands create a unique Shoppertainment experience, from content to commerce. If your goal is to drive revenue growth, we’ve developed a step-by-step framework to get you there: PACE.

PACE: Your step-by-step guide to Shoppertainment

PACE is a framework to help your brand build a winning Shoppertainment strategy. Built on four pillars—Persona, Assortment, Content, and Empowerment—PACE offers a data-driven way to boost your brand’s performance on TikTok Shop. Each pillar of PACE will help your brand to optimize your shop traffic, conversion rate, and average order value in a systematic manner—adding up to a boost in your GMV.

The PACE framework is underpinned by a scoring system: the ACE Indicator System. Made up of key metrics from your Assortment, Content, and Empowerment strategies, this scoring tool helps you identify your current Shop challenges vs industry benchmarks. You can then work on tackling these gaps by following through the PACE framework.

Here’s a breakdown of the four pillars of PACE:

Persona: Who are you reaching?

Step one of your Shoppertainment journey is to define your target audiences. Who are you reaching and what makes them tick? A strong understanding of this will help to inform your assortment, content, and empowerment strategies.

On TikTok, you can plug into a diverse community of users with unique interests, lifestyles, and wants. Your brand can engage each user segment better by understanding them as Personas, each with their own values and preferences. This gives you a starting point to create content that is tailored to their needs.

Each Persona also takes a distinct path toward purchase from product impression to conversion. A tech enthusiast and a young professional, for instance, would select a new keyboard based on very different values and desires compared to a lifestyle enthusiast.

With a deeper understanding of these unique journeys, your brand will be able to engage consumers meaningfully at every stage of the sales funnel.

Assortment: What are you offering?

Assortment is all about curating a winning product mix for your target audiences on TikTok Shop. What kind of product line-up can drive traffic and amp up your average order value (AOV)?

To give you a headstart, we’ve created the Assortment Model Matrix. Use this matrix as your guide to product curation and bundling, depending on your brand goals.

Now that you have your products lined up, you need the right product communication strategy. Several factors should shape your strategy, including:

• Novelty: Steal the spotlight for your new product launches by collaborating with creators and trendsetters.

• Popularity: Make your top-selling products even more popular by creating viral TikTok challenges or working with creators through Branded Missions.

• Relevance: Create timely content for your trending or seasonal products with live streaming, expert tips, and more.

• Frequency: Drive repeat purchases with retargeting and ad campaigns.

Content: How are you communicating?

Content is the lifeblood of your brand—it’s what fuels your audience’s interest. For maximum impact, you need a variety and volume of content that responds to diverse users’ needs.

With TikTok, it’s easier than ever to bring a wide range of creative assets to life. Take a cue from our Recut, Remix, Reimagine framework: you can recut your existing content to fit TikTok best practices, remix with custom edits to make it feel native, or reimagine your creative idea by partnering with creators and the TikTok community.

If you’re running a livestream, you can leverage multi-lever strategies to engage your live audience. This includes customized verbal tactics, scenarios of users’ pain points, tailored design of the host persona, and promotions.

Tap into these strategies to create a differentiated livestream that speaks to your audience’s needs and gets them hitting “buy.”

Empowerment: How do you set your team up for success?

Finally, take your brand to the next level with advertising, marketing, and customer operations solutions. TikTok offers a range of tools to power sustainable growth for your brand.

Create an agile setup for your media and ecommerce teams to collaborate towards shared goals. The PACE framework offers a blueprint for your commerce and media teams to break down silos and see the bigger picture. From defining a Persona strategy that informs your assortment and content strategy, to pulling it all together with the right media mix and investment, PACE empowers your teams to work together seamlessly.

At every stage of the funnel, you can supercharge your success with TikTok’s full-funnel suite of advertising solutions. Our data shows that when brands run Shop Ads on TikTok, they see a 129% increase in median GMV³. And when a brand uses Shop Ads to retarget users exposed to Brand Ads, it successfully drives them down the funnel and reduces its average cost-per-acquisition (CPA) by 15%⁴.

Success stories

Wondering how to put PACE into action? Get inspiration from Samsung, Anessa, and Shiseido. Hit play on the video below to find out how these three global brands achieved Shoppertainment success with the PACE framework.

Pick up the PACE for your business growth

In short, PACE is your ticket to delivering the unique Shoppertainment experience that today’s consumers crave. If there’s anything you need to keep in mind as you get started, it’s these three key takeaways:

1. Start by identifying your target Personas. This will help you tailor your Assortment, Content, and Empowerment strategies.

2. Leverage Shop Ads. Brands who run Shop Ads see a potential boost of up to 129% in median GMV.

3. Think about your full-funnel strategy. By running full-funnel ads on TikTok, you can reach a wider pool of shoppers to boost your shop traffic. You can also use retargeting to reach quality audiences and drive up conversion rates.

Kickstart your Shoppertainment journey on TikTok Shop

The future of selling is Shoppertainment—and getting there is simpler through TikTok Shop. By leveraging your newfound insights into PACE, your brand can make an impact on the right audiences, at the right time.

Learn more about our Shoppertainment whitepaper and find out how we turn these insights into actionable how-tos with PACE, in collaboration with Accenture.

• More of a visual learner? Check out our PACE video series on our website.

• Want to find out how ready your brand is for Shoppertainment? Take our short PACE quiz!

Already have your dedicated TikTok Partnerships Manager or Shop Account Manager? Reach out to them for a PACE assessment to identify your current Shop challenges and shape your audience persona strategy.

References:

1. Future of Commerce research by Boston Consulting Group, commissioned by TikTok. Conducted in ID, TH, VN, Apr 2022)

2. Consumer research by Accenture Song, commissioned by TikTok. Conducted in ID, TH, VN, Aug 2023

3. Internal TikTok Analysis, May-Jul, 2023, SEA: TikTok Sellers who did not use Shop Ads versus TikTok Sellers who used Shop Ads

4. Internal TikTok Closed-loop Full-funnel Meta Study, APAC, Aug 2023