Marketplace Briefing: How Rhino USA is building a 182‑acre ‘content factory’ in Texas after riding TikTok Shop to 8-figure sales

Marketplace Briefing // June 4, 2026 Marketplace Briefing: How Rhino USA is building a 182‑acre ‘content factory’ in Texas after riding TikTok Shop to 8-figure sales By Allison Smith Ivy Liu This is the latest installment of the Marketplace Briefing, a weekly Modern Retail+ column about the ever-changing e-commerce marketplace landscape.

More from the series → On 182 acres of Central Texas scrubland outside Austin, a Ford Bronco crawls over a dirt course taking shape. Winding trails cut through the property, where obstacles and new buildings are beginning to emerge from the brush.

For Rhino USA, the truck and towing gear brand that found an unlikely audience on TikTok Shop, the sprawling compound is being designed as a place to test products, host creators and produce the videos that drive sales online. Those videos often feature the company’s gear in action.

In a recent post, for instance, Rhino USA showed how its recovery equipment could be used to free a semi-submerged truck from a pool of mud. The project, called RhinoWorld, comes as Rhino USA has emerged as one of TikTok Shop’s more unusual success stories.

While beauty and fashion dominate sales on the platform, Rhino USA has generated more than eight figures in TikTok Shop revenue selling products such as ratchet straps, winch rope and traction boards, according to the company.

Now, Rhino USA is investing in a physical destination designed to generate the creator content, product demonstrations and live shopping streams it hopes will power its next phase of TikTok Shop growth. “RhinoWorld is our content factory, and TikTok is where we want to post content,” CEO Ted Repic said in an interview.

Founded in 2015 by Repic’s sons Cameron and Dylan, Rhino USA started as an Amazon seller focused on products the family used themselves while riding dirt bikes and off-road vehicles.

The company has since expanded into towing, camping, boating and overlanding gear, with more than 300 products and distribution through retailers including Walmart, Sam’s Club and AutoZone. Overall, Rhino USA generates nine figures in revenue and has quadrupled sales in the last three years. TikTok Shop has played a huge part in that.

The company joined TikTok Shop in October 2023, shortly after the platform’s U. S. debut. Sales began almost immediately as existing customers posted videos featuring the brand’s products, according to Adam Fox, Rhino’s chief marketing officer. “We got on the platform, and within days, we were organically selling thousands of dollars of product,” Fox said.

“A lot of our core customers started posting content using our products connected to our shop, and that’s how things got started.” One product in particular helped fuel growth. Rhino’s retractable ratchet strap proved especially well-suited for short-form video because it was easy to demonstrate and easy for viewers to understand.

One of Rhino USA’s most popular TikTok videos, with more than a million views, jokingly shows how a ratchet strap can be used as a pair of suspenders. Rhino USA also regularly uses its TikTok account to demonstrate recovery efforts for a range of products.

Another popular video, with nearly 4 million views, shows how the company’s kinetic recovery rope can be used to pull a stranded car from the ocean surf. As videos spread across TikTok, the company began reaching customers outside its traditional audience, including gift buyers shopping for outdoor enthusiasts.

Rhino USA’s success stands out on a platform where beauty remains dominant. Beauty and personal care accounted for roughly 19% of TikTok Shop’s U. S. sales in 2025, totaling about $2. 7 billion, according to data from e-commerce analytics firm Charm. io. Womenswear ranked second at about 12. 5%, or $1. 8 billion.

Still, Rhino USA ranks as the top seller in TikTok Shop’s automotive and motorcycle category, according to Charm. io, with hundreds of thousands of units sold, and has consistently placed among the platform’s top 100 sellers overall. Like most brands, creators have played a major role in Rhino USA’s growth on TikTok Shop.

More than 6,000 creators generated sales for Rhino USA on TikTok Shop last year, according to the company, helping drive nearly one billion product impressions across the platform. Those creator relationships are also shaping RhinoWorld.

Earlier this year, the company invited a small “all-star” group of around 10 to 15 creators to visit the property before it officially opens. Rhino regularly taps this core group of creators for product feedback, custom bundles and campaign ideas, Fox said.

The company has also leaned into less obvious creator categories to expand its reach beyond core off-road enthusiasts. One of Rhino’s closest partners is a beauty creator who uses the handle @alignedwithkay. For instance,