TikTok Shop is reportedly testing a paid Shop Plus membership that could offer free shipping, discounts, and coupons as the platform looks to keep shoppers from leaving for Amazon.

Chris Walton and Jenn Hahn discuss whether TikTok’s rapid growth and social-first shopping experience could make Shop Plus a genuine threat to Amazon’s ecosystem.

▶️ Watch the full Fast Five episode here: https://youtu.be/VL3Q373gkfY

TikTok is testing a paid membership called Shop plus, according to screenshots viewed by a Business Insider, bundling free shipping, product discounts and coupons for a monthly fee and a direct bid to keep shoppers from bailing to Amazon, according to Ecom crew shout out to them for their first Fast5 citation.

The screenshots show TikTok testing monthly price points of $6, $10 and $15, with examples showing a discounted hair product paired with free three day shipping and a $5 discount on a beauty item.

A former TikTok shop staffer described the strategic problem directly.

Shoppers would discover products on TikTok and then leave the platform to complete the purchase on Amazon.

And Shop plus is built to close that exact leakage point.

TikTok, it should be noted, also has not confirmed this program publicly at this time.

Jen TikTok is basically building an Amazon prime clone inside a content app.

Is that a genuine threat to Amazon's ecosystem lock in?

Or is TikTok just spending money to look like a marketplace that isn't quite yet?

4.9 Billion in US sales in Q1 is nothing to take lightly.

So I would say yeah, that's, that's wild.

Hearing that number is wild.

I think it's a real threat for sure, especially for the younger generation.

As much as I said in the last headline that like we use Amazon something synonymous for just shopping online in our generation and I don't want to, I don't want to target certain generations at this point, but I think the younger generation or just anyone hipper than I am, they learn everything.

Chris Everyone is different than I am because so again, they might be in the same generation as I am, but they're learning everything from TikTok.

It used to be like oh they do dances right?

But now literally everything is on TikTok.

So I've always been a big fan of meeting the customer where they're at and obviously TikTok shop with these numbers has really figured that out already, making it that much easier to just check out versus now go out and find it on Amazon and check out.

I mean sounds like a no brainer and definitely a genuine threat.

To answer your question, 100%.

I mean, I think, I mean, I think it's important to note.

I mean, you said that, you said, you said the raw sales, but the GMV.

$20 Billion of GMV is coming through TikTok Shop.

That's insane.

I mean, how long has TikTok been around, Jen?

Like, five, six years?

Like, it feels like it started during the pandemic.

Right.

You'd have to ask someone.

Yeah.

Hipper than me, Chris.

Yeah, they might, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

We'll ask producer Ella later, you know.

Yeah, like it's, that's not been very long.

That's the point.

Right.

And the funny thing to me about this story too, which I think is really fascinating, is the TikTok sellers are likely using Amazon and warehouse Walmart warehousing services to meet these delivery windows anyway.

And so, like, it feels like a smart move to keep them in the TikTok Shop experience and not to port them out to Amazon.

And all it takes is a smart psychological marketing hook, like, hey, why don't you stay with us?

And you can get the same degree of service and confidence that you're going to get from if you went out and bought it from Amazon.

Oh, and by the way, the Amazon sellers are just using the same infrastructure or the TikTok shop sellers are just using the same infrastructure to provide it for you.

So you don't know the difference anyway.

And, and you're making the shoppers pay for it themselves too, to give, to give that service to your sellers as TikTok Shop.

So I don't, I, I just think this is really smart and it's, it's going to be.

This is, it's a really interesting headline to close with today.

When you start talking like you did, Jen, about, you go where people are.

Right.

And this, you know, if this works, there's a there, there here for sure.

Yeah, I, I will be really interested to see where this lands again.

I don't spend a lot of time on Tick Tock myself, but I think I'm in the minority.

And when producer Ella joins us, we'll, we'll talk to her about how she's using Tick Tock Shop for sure, because she's definitely one of those hipper than I am.

Let's bring producer Ella in right now.

Producer Ella, like, what's your TikTok shop exposure and experience.

Yeah.

So actually this is funny that it's coming out this week because I have been putting myself on a spending hold.

I mean, I'm a bride in this economy.

My sister's getting married this weekend.

I get married in a couple months And I use TikTok as that emotional purchase.

So I'm not really searching things.

But it's like if I'm really influenced, if something comes up, I'm Apple paying it.

Right.

And it's coming to my door now the delivery fee.

This is really interesting because since it's an emotional purchase, I typically right now am not so much concerned about the delivery fee because I wasn't searching for it in general.

Right, right, right.

It's not a need.

You don't need it really quickly.

It's not a need.

As for Amazon, I do maybe want that one to two day I'm searching.

I need this.

Right.

But to your point about how long has this been out too?

I do know this.

I figured, yeah, six years is when I remember seeing it.

I remember seeing it.

Right.

The first year of the pandemic.

But yeah, it was definitely before that.

So good, good point of reference, Ella.