Starting with secondhand means TikTok Shop doesn’t need buy-in from luxury brands to get their names on the site. It’s also territory with ripe interest. The hashtag #prelovedfashion has generated 62,000 videos, and the partners selected already have sizable followings that will help promote the initiative. “We know the TikTok community is increasingly searching for more sustainable and accessible ways to invest in and enjoy luxury fashion, and the launch of this new category means that pre-owned luxury brands and pieces can now be discovered and bought seamlessly all without leaving the platform,” says Flavia Pfyffer Von Altishofen Fashion Lead, TikTok Shop UK. There’s an appetite for pre-loved luxury on TikTok already, she adds.
Who is TikTok’s (used) luxury shopper?
Resale platform Luxe Collective has over 1 million followers, built by co-founder Ben Gallagher, who regularly posts educational content about fashion. Some of its videos have 10-16 million views. The resale company launched its TikTok Shop on Friday via a series of live streams, offering 50 per cent off some bags from Louis Vuitton, Loewe and Bottega Veneta to drum up interest.
It sold 10 items across the two lives, including a Louis Vuitton keep all (£1,500), Louis Vuitton Wight bag (£1,500), a Louis Vuitton multi-pochette (£900), Bottega Veneta piece (£400) and a Fendi bag (£400), Gallagher says. From 3-5pm 20,000 people visited the stream. Then another 11,000 people joined from 6-8pm. Gallagher is doing 20 hours of lives over the next five days, so TikTok can test the audience and the algorithm can learn who to thrust the lives to going forward.
Can TikTok Shop really be a destination for pre-loved luxury shopping? “You know what, before the live tonight, I would have said no,” Gallagher says. “I genuinely didn’t think that people would part with four to five hundred quid on average on social media. But some spent £1,500.” Of course, for some users, it’s aspirational entertainment. During one of the lives, one user commented, “Really wanted that if only I was £1,500 richer.”
London-based resale business Sellier’s TikTok conversions make up around 25 per cent of total sales, compared with 35 per cent from Instagram. The rest are direct via e-commerce, says founder Hanushka Toni. She’s seeing increased interest from TikTok and predicts high conversion in TikTok Shop. Lives she’s hosted have drawn 650 viewers, with many converting into sales.