TikTok Shop says sales from U.S. small businesses climbed 66% in 2025

The Marketplace Boom // May 19, 2026 TikTok Shop says sales from U. S. small businesses climbed 66% in 2025 By Allison Smith Ivy Liu TikTok Shop says it’s continuing to drive rapid growth for small businesses, even as bigger brands swarm the platform. U. S.

small businesses on TikTok Shop — sellers with less than $15 million in annual revenue — increased sales by 66% in 2025 compared to the year before, TikTok Shop shared exclusively with Modern Retail. TikTok Shop now has more than 215,000 small businesses actively selling on the platform in the U. S. , up 25% year over year.

The numbers come alongside a new report from GlobalData commissioned by TikTok Shop that examined how people discover and buy brands on the platform. The report was based on a nationally representative survey of 6,000 U. S. consumers ages 16 and older conducted in April and May.

The findings arrive as TikTok Shop pushes deeper into mainstream retail and works to attract more established brands and retailers to the platform. In recent months, larger companies and multi-brand retailers including Ulta Beauty, Sally Beauty and Disney have launched storefronts on the platform.

Earlier this year, Modern Retail reported that sales from major brands on TikTok Shop nearly doubled in 2025. But TikTok executives say the influx of larger brands has not slowed growth for smaller sellers, many of whom credit TikTok Shop with helping them acquire new customers and enter major retailers.

“Through the video and live streaming and community elements, there’s really a lot for brands of any size to be able to connect with the target audience,” said Patrick Nommensen, head of strategic initiatives at TikTok Shop. “We really see it as an ecosystem and a platform where brands of all sizes can be successful.”

TikTok Shop’s new report argues that discovery remains one of the platform’s biggest advantages. The study found that 67% of consumers go to TikTok Shop when they want to discover new products and brands, ahead of Amazon at 57%. It also found that 66% of TikTok Shop users discovered a new brand on the platform during the past year.

Small businesses accounted for most of those discoveries. The report found that 72% of brands discovered by TikTok Shop users over the past 12 months were businesses with less than $15 million in annual revenue. The report also found that discovery often leads directly to purchases.

About 58% of consumers who discovered a small brand on TikTok Shop later bought from that brand on the platform. More than half made a purchase within days, while roughly one-fifth bought something the same day they found the brand. More than half of shoppers who discovered a new beauty brand on TikTok Shop later purchased from that brand on the platform.

Creator recommendations continue to drive much of TikTok Shop’s shopping activity. The report found that 70% of TikTok Shop consumers have purchased a product recommended by a creator, while 88% of shoppers who buy through creator recommendations made those purchases within the past year.

Another 73% said they go to TikTok Shop for inspiration when considering creator-backed products. Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, said TikTok Shop still operates differently from traditional online marketplaces because shopping is built directly into the app’s endless stream of short videos and livestreams.

A user may open TikTok to watch outfit hauls, makeup tutorials or comedy clips, then suddenly find themselves buying a product featured in the video without ever leaving the feed. Tapping on a product link inside a creator’s post or livestream can take shoppers straight to checkout in just a few clicks.

“The platform is sticky because I think it fuses retail with entertainment,” Saunders said. Saunders said smaller brands often perform well because founders appear in their own videos and speak directly to customers. “One of the things that really helps the smaller brands on TikTok Shop is authenticity,” Saunders said.

“What a lot of the users want and what better algorithms surface is great storytelling, great narratives, really authentic content that resonates.” That has pushed many small brands to get more creative with livestreams.

Megan Reep, founder of Mavwicks Fragrances, said TikTok Shop “took her small business to the moon” during a holiday event TikTok hosted in New York in November. Before joining the platform, the fragrance company generated roughly $300,000-$400,000 in annual sales. “The first year we were on TikTok Shop, we jumped to $32 million in sales,” Reep said.

Mavwicks increasingly treats its livestreams like entertainment events. During a recent live session, “we had a dunk tank, and every time someone bought a bundle from us, we would get to dump my husband in the dunk tank,” Reep said. She added that “keeping exciting things happening on screen” during live selling helps drive engagement and