High-Opportunity Industries for TikTok E-Commerce in China

From January to November 2024, Douyin's（Chinese TikTok）e-commerce sales in China grew by 27.7% year-on-year, maintaining its upward momentum. Sixteen Tier 1 categories, including apparel and underwear, food and beverages, saw year-on-year growth rates surpass the broader market, becoming a key driver of Douyin's overall growth. During the period , 16 Tier 1 categories surpassed 30 billion yuan in sales. Apparel and underwear, driven by strong content and high market penetration, maintained their top position among Douyin's e-commerce categories in China , with sales exceeding 800 billion yuan .

Clothing and Underwear

With consumers' growing demand for both comfort and functionality in underwear, the market for underwire-free bras is surging. Xingmian, a brand that has embraced this trend, has focused on developing and promoting soft-support bras, which have been highly sought after by consumers and driven rapid growth in the girls' bra category. Furthermore, with the rise of Chinese aesthetics, exemplified by the New Chinese style, Tang suits and Hanfu are hot sellers. Sales of Tang suits, ethnic costumes, and stage costumes have increased by 374.15% year-on-year.

Beauty and Skincare

The rapid development of medical aesthetics and light medical aesthetics is driving rapid expansion in the medical dressing category, with hyaluronic acid and collagen dressings accounting for over 80% of the market share. Furthermore, some brands are targeting men's solid perfumes with targeted marketing targeting specific usage scenarios, driving growth in the men's fragrance and perfume categories.

Food and Beverage

The Douyin platform continues to open up incremental markets for agricultural products by creating food IP, origin traceability and other support measures. Consumers' interest in local specialties is also increasing. Products with health, nutrition and handmade as selling points are hot-selling, and the local specialty category has grown by 59.96%.

Outdoor Sports

Outdoor wear has become a part of daily life. Compared to other outdoor products such as fishing equipment and tents, outdoor shoes and boots have seen more significant growth, with hiking boots, trekking shoes, and outdoor casual shoes being the most popular.

3C Digital

DJI OSMO POCKET 3, a pocket gimbal camera released at the end of 2023, focuses on its lightweight and beauty selling points. From January to November 2024, its single SPU sales reached 300 million yuan, contributing nearly 60% of the sales in the digital camera category and driving the category growth by 464.34%.

Kitchen and Bathroom Appliances

China's national subsidy policy has effectively stimulated consumer enthusiasm for large appliances, a category considered durable. During Singles' Day (Singles' Day) shopping festival, Douyin (TikTok) hosted a government subsidy event, partnering with nearly 200 brands, including Haier. Merchants capitalized on the promotional opportunities and policy opportunities, demonstrating strong growth. During Singles' Day, large appliance sales exceeded 9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 100.21%, accounting for 23% of total sales in 2024. Sales of washing and drying sets surged 208.66% year-on-year, with Haier, the top brand, achieving sales of over 1 billion yuan in this category, a year-on-year increase of 412.89%.

Fresh Fruits and Vegetables

Fruits and fruit products and vegetables saw rapid growth, with sales primarily driven by livestreaming by influencers. Sales of fruits and fruit products were primarily driven by apples, cherries, cherries, and durian, while watermelon also showed a growth trend. When purchasing fruits and fruit products, consumers primarily focused on product freshness, taste, and origin.

Medical and Healthcare

The home care category saw a 2062.51% year-over-year increase, primarily driven by oral care and scar care products. The rehabilitation and physiotherapy category saw a 754.04% year-over-year increase, primarily driven by hearing aids and physiotherapy devices. Physiotherapy devices saw a 2303.17% year-over-year increase, primarily focused on postpartum recovery and hair growth applications.

Maternal and Child Products

Looking at the three major growth-driven subcategories of maternal and infant products, the incremental market growth was driven by the infant and child market, while the maternity and postpartum market lacked growth momentum. Within infant and child products, pacifiers and pacifier-related products saw a 188.37% increase, primarily driven by soothers, whose anti-flatulence and anti-bite features attracted consumer attention.

Success Stories

1. Women's clothing brand [COCO ZONE] is strongly tied to its founder's IP, with the founder's matrix account accounting for 91% of sales. Before the launch of a new product, they released a large number of short videos to promote the product and pre-stocked the product based on feedback. Furthermore, their unique slow-paced livestreaming style, with its narrative and sharing approach, has garnered strong audience appeal and effectively driven sales conversions.

2. The makeup brand [ Dirovo ] , focusing on natural skincare, continuously upgrades its products in terms of efficacy and feel. They also create an ultimate user experience with ingenious packaging features like a built-in scoop and nail-friendly design. By leveraging the dual value of functionality and emotion, combined with brand-owned livestreaming, they are achieving strong growth.

TikTok Influencer Trends

Over the past three years, the number of Douyin influencers in China surged in 2022 and has steadily increased since then, reaching 140 million in 2024, up 6.1% year-on-year. Furthermore, the growth in the number of influencers engaging in product sales surpassed the growth in the number of influencers in both 2023 and 2024, indicating that more and more influencers are leveraging the showcase feature and becoming product sales influencers. Among the new influencers, the growth of the tail-end influencers has been the most significant. In addition to this large base, the platform has also introduced policies to encourage more influencers to engage in product sales, including relaxing account follower count and deposit requirements.

As the number of influencers steadily grows, Douyin's e-commerce GMV has also kept pace with this growth. Among them, small and low-end influencers will see a 61% year-on-year increase in total GMV in 2024, with per capita GMV increasing by 21.6% and 39%, respectively. This overall trend demonstrates a thriving upward development and deserves special attention. Top influencers will see a 23% year-on-year increase in total GMV and a 27% per capita GMV increase in 2024, with per capita GMV ranging from 50 to 75 million yuan. While GMV for influencers at all levels has increased, the sales share of mid- and high-end influencers has decreased, with their per capita GMV declining by 0.4%, indicating a slight weakening in their ability to drive sales. These mid- and low-end influencers need to strengthen their competitiveness.

Fashion influencers lead the market in terms of GMV on Douyin, ranking first and accounting for approximately 38%. Despite the leading number of influencers, the number of fashion influencers is expected to grow by 7% in 2024, making them the most popular influencer type on Douyin. Followed by lifestyle, appearance, and education and training influencers, each accounting for between 6% and 10%. Automotive, lifestyle, and education and training influencers have shown strong sales performance, with GMV growth far exceeding the average. In particular, the continued strength of lifestyle influencer Mr. Dong has significantly increased GMV in this category, despite a decline in the number of influencers. Trends in influencer numbers indicate that beauty and cosmetics has seen the fastest growth in influencer sales, with an 18% annual increase. However, the overall GMV of the beauty and cosmetics category declined by 2%, indicating fierce competition within the sector.

Most influencers saw their per capita GMV growth increase year-over-year. Celebrity influencers saw their per capita sales power increase by 31%, with per capita GMV between 1 million and 2.5 million yuan, ranking first. Rural influencers, supported by Douyin's e-commerce charity program, saw their per capita sales power increase by 23%, with GMV between 2.5 million and 5 million yuan, ranking second.

62% of livestreaming influencer GMV comes from mid- and low-tier influencers, with peak sales occurring at these mid-tier groups, exceeding 350 billion yuan. The top three mid-tier influencers achieved sales exceeding 1 billion yuan by selling merchandise from their own small shops. Mid-tier influencers are the backbone of livestreaming conversions.

The number of video influencers far exceeds that of livestreaming influencers, with small influencers accounting for 24% and top-tier influencers for 70%. Peak sales for small influencers, exceeding 30 billion yuan, are projected to grow by 86% and 161% respectively across various industries by 2024. Small and top-tier influencers offer the highest cost-effectiveness for video collaborations.

From the perspective of channel breakdown , influencers mainly sell goods through live streaming. In 2024, this sales method accounted for as much as 90% of GMV, which cannot be ignored.

From an industry perspective, influencers account for more than 50% of GMV in the pharmaceutical and healthcare, book and education, beauty and skin care, apparel and underwear, and food and beverage industries, and the industry as a whole is more dependent on influencer sales.

In addition, the book and education and food and beverage industries account for a higher proportion of video influencer GMV than the market average, demonstrating the adaptability of video content in these industries.