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TikTok Shop skyrockets to $62.3 billion, with nearly 40% of sellers earning only a million in annual revenue

TikTok Shop skyrockets to $62.3 billion, with nearly 40% of sellers earning only a million in annual revenue

News2026-03-31

Open your phone, you may have become accustomed to scrolling through sales videos on TikTok. But you may not know that this platform, which started with short videos, has quietly grown into an e-commerce giant with a transaction volume of up to 62.3 billion US dollars by 2025. The latest "2025 TikTok Shop Annual Research Report" released by TT123 shows that although the platform's GMV surged by 96.12% year-on-year, the seller ecosystem is undergoing a profound transformation from wild growth to refined operation.

More than half of the sellers failed to meet their revenue and profit expectations, and nearly 40% of sellers have annual revenue of less than one million yuan. This data reflects the harsh reality of the TikTok Shop ecosystem: behind the platform's rapid progress, a large number of sellers are facing the dilemma of "increasing revenue without increasing profits".

The acceleration of global expansion and compliance challenges
TikTok Shop will expand its website to 17 by 2025, and the newly opened markets in Germany, France, Brazil, and other countries will quickly achieve a good start. The platform has achieved significant success in the European market through the "One Store, Six Countries" policy and the strategy of replicating popular products in mature markets.

However, the road to expansion is not smooth sailing. from the hefty fines imposed by the European Union under the Digital Services Act to the tug of war over the US "ban if you don't sell" bill, TikTok Shop is facing unprecedented compliance pressure in the process of globalization. The platform upgrades governance rules and optimizes performance standards to ensure compliance while creating new traffic windows for merchants.

The platform has over 1.9 billion monthly active users and a daily average usage time of 108 minutes, indicating enormous commercial potential behind these numbers. But the other side of user growth is the tightening of regulations. While platforms enjoy the benefits of globalization, they must also cope with different regulatory environments in different regions.

The differentiation of seller ecology is intensifying
TT123 research data reveals a fragmented seller ecosystem: 39% of sellers have annual revenue below 1 million yuan, while 16% of large sellers have annual revenue exceeding 1 billion yuan. Although the number of sellers in the middle tier is not large, their overall proportion reaches 43%, indicating that the market pattern has not yet solidified.

Advertising and marketing expenses have become the primary expense for over 30% of sellers, followed closely by taxes and logistics storage fees. In the context of intensified competition, sellers generally face operational pressure of rising costs and squeezed profit margins.
The North American market remains the focus of seller layout, with 44% of sellers choosing to heavily warehouse in North America. But with the opening up of emerging markets such as Latin America and Japan, sellers are starting to focus on more blue ocean regions. 82% of sellers expressed their intention to enter the Japanese market, demonstrating their anticipation for new growth points.

New growth logic driven by content
The essence of TikTok Shop is content e-commerce. The report data shows that the average reach rate of long videos over 60 seconds is 43.2% higher, and the viewing time has increased by 63.8%. The platform is gaining deeper user stickiness by promoting long content.

Short videos and live streaming have become the dual engines driving GMV growth. In the US market, TOP achieved a GMV of 1.74 million US dollars per product for its sales videos; In Thailand, a 13 hour live broadcast achieved sales of 1.328 million US dollars. The quality and creativity of content are directly related to conversion efficiency, and high-quality content becomes a scarce resource.

The platform is fully utilizing AI tools, from intelligent editing to live streaming assistance, and technology is lowering the threshold for content creation. About 35% of TikTok's shopping transactions come from AI driven personalized content recommendations, and algorithms are reshaping the logic of traffic allocation.

From traffic dividends to deep cultivation of value
2025 marks a crucial turning point for TikTok Shop to accelerate from a "traffic field" to a "trading field". The platform has launched the GMV Max intelligent advertising solution, shifting the traffic distribution mechanism from a simple focus on content popularity to a transaction efficiency oriented approach.
This transformation forces sellers to undergo a profound 'efficiency evolution'. The extensive business model that relied on traffic dividends in the early days is difficult to sustain, and businesses that have successfully completed localization operations, brand building, and supply chain optimization are building competitive barriers.

The fashion accessories category ranked first in growth with a growth rate of about 147%, while categories such as home furnishings and health products also saw a year-on-year increase of over 100%. The growth momentum has spread from traditional categories such as beauty and women's clothing to a wider range of daily life areas, and the platform ecosystem presents a healthy pattern of diversified development.

Where is the next growth point
Facing 2026, the influencer live streaming matrix will become a breakthrough point in the US market. Song Zhijie, the head of SIENSIIN's overseas business, pointed out that expert cooperation will be upgraded from "scattered cooperation" to "matrix management", and the value of mid-level experts will be re uated.

The Southeast Asian market is still optimistic, especially the localized retail opportunities in Malaysia. Mike, the strategy director of GIMMedia, the top MCN organization in Southeast Asia on TikTok Shop, believes that in the future, the competition will focus on performance speed, user trust, and the ability to link online and offline.

Emerging categories demonstrate enormous potential. The continuous popularity of the "emotional economy" track, such as lingerie, mystical crystals, and stress relieving toys, reflects the increasing demand for personalized and emotionally satisfying products among consumers. These niche areas provide sellers with opportunities to avoid the red ocean competition of mainstream tracks.

The global story of TikTok Shop has just opened a new chapter. When the platform is no longer just a low traffic area, but becomes the main battlefield for brand building and long-term operation, sellers need more professional content capabilities, more refined operational strategies, and a more resilient long-term mindset. On this platform with 1.9 billion daily followers, the real competition is not about grabbing attention, but about winning trust.

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TikTok Shop skyrockets to $62.3 billion, with nearly 40% of sellers earning only a million in annual revenue