Since its launch in 2023, TikTok Shop has transformed the beauty landscape, offering short-form content that entertains, educates and drives the latest trends and brand spotlights, giving shoppers a new way to buy: through personalized exploration and discovery. Today, the platform continues to see momentum as sales have grown 120% year-over-year in 2025, with K-beauty leading the charge at 132% year-over-year.
This article is only available to registered users.
Log In to View the Full Article
Since its launch in 2023, TikTok Shop has transformed the beauty landscape, offering short-form content that entertains, educates and drives the latest trends and brand spotlights, giving shoppers a new way to buy: through personalized exploration and discovery. Today, the platform continues to see momentum as sales have grown 120% year-over-year in 2025, with K-beauty leading the charge at 132% year-over-year.
Global Cosmetic Industry spoke to Ajay Salpekar, TikTok Shop's head of beauty, for more insights on the platform's growth and future.
What do you think shoppers want out of their online shopping experience?
Ajay Salpekar [AS]: Today’s shoppers want discovery, entertainment and authenticity in one place. TikTok Shop delivers an experience where consumers can explore new products and brands organically, often through the voices they trust. This combination of inspiration and immediacy is exactly what modern shoppers are looking for, making discovery-driven shopping the core of TikTok Shop’s appeal.
TikTok Shop sales are up. Where does beauty rank among this growth, and what is driving its acceleration?
83% of TikTok Shop beauty shoppers say they’ve discovered new products on the platform, according to GlobalData research, most often through GRWM or before-and-after videos. Airdone at Adobe Stock
What’s fueling this surge is the power of creators. As of Q3 2025, beauty creator-driven sales more than doubled year-over-year on TikTok Shop, underscoring how trusted voices directly influence what people buy. Combined with shoppable videos and livestreams that let shoppers see results in real time, TikTok has turned product testing into a shared, interactive experience, making it feel like you’re trying out beauty products right in your own feed.
K-beauty is leading the charge. What are the top trends, products and brands you’re seeing within K-beauty?
[AS]: K-beauty is leading the charge because it consistently delivers high-impact, visually engaging products that perform really well in creator demos and short-form content. Within K-beauty, the top trends we are seeing include hero ingredients like PDRN (Salmon DNA), peptides, collagen and spicules formulas that deliver instant, noticeable results and perform well in creator demos. Popular formats include cushion compacts, rollerball hair serums, pimple patches, hydrogel and peeling masks, customizable toner pads and pilling exfoliators, all of which lend themselves to engaging, tactile content. 
Within K-beauty, the top trends we are seeing include hero ingredients like PDRN (Salmon DNA), peptides, collagen and spicules formulas that deliver instant, noticeable results and perform well in creator demos.Punnn at Adobe Stock
The most viral product types are the ones that tend to offer high-impact transformations, such as lip plumpers, blurring cushion foundations and peel-off masks. Leading brands include Medicube (Booster Pro Device and Toner Pads), COSRX (peptide-focused skin care), TirTir (Mask Fit Red Cushion), Mixsoon (Bean Essence), Missha (Serum BB Cream) and VT Cosmetics (Lip Plumper and Reedle Shot).
Are there any other global beauty trends/brands making waves?
[AS]: Beyond K-beauty, fragrance and skin care are two areas we’ve seen growing quickly. #FragranceTok has become one of the fastest-growing corners of TikTok Shop. In skin care, consumers are increasingly prioritizing functional, results-driven products. Low-maintenance, high-impact items like Wonderskin Lip Stain, P. Louise Bad B*tch Lip Duo, Glow For It Lash Serum and Nature Spell Rosemary Hair Oil are selling out fast because they deliver real, tangible results.
Other trends we’ve noticed in the content realm include GRWM, celebrity-inspired hairstyles and practical beauty routines. These trends highlight a shift toward aspirational, yet realistic choices, with products and looks that shoppers can replicate at home.
What are your current plans for keeping TikTok Shop engaging for users, and how do you see TikTok Shop evolving to meet the needs of its brands, creators and audiences?
[AS]: We’re continuing to build on the incredible momentum around LIVE shopping. In 2024 alone, brands and creators hosted more than 8 million hours of LIVE shopping sessions in the U.S., and according to GlobalData, 76% of consumers who engaged with TikTok Shop made a purchase from a livestream in the past year. This shows how powerful real-time connection and entertainment-driven commerce have become on the platform.
At the same time, we’re seeing a new generation of businesses thrive on TikTok Shop. More than 171,000 U.S. small businesses sell through TikTok Shop, with sales to small businesses growing 70% year-over-year. In fact, over a third of all TikTok Shop purchases in 2024 went to small businesses. Looking ahead, we’re focused on continuing to evolve TikTok Shop in ways that empower creators, support entrepreneurs, and make shopping even more engaging and seamless for our community.
TikTok as a platform offers a variety of ways for consumers to engage with a product. What kind of stories do shoppers resonate with most?
Differentiation comes from understanding your audience, experimenting with engaging formats like livestreams or GRWMs and highlighting tangible results that make your product stand out.Artem Varnitsin at Adobe Stock
As TikTok Shop continues to grow, we expect other shopping platforms to raise their standards for interactive, visual shopping full of discovery and inspiration. The combination of social engagement, community and immediate purchase is redefining consumer expectations and showing that shopping can be entertaining, authentic, and personalized.
How might these brands differentiate their content from their competitors?
[AS]: Differentiation comes from understanding your audience, experimenting with engaging formats like livestreams or GRWMs and highlighting tangible results that make your product stand out. Brands that embrace the interactive, community-driven nature of TikTok will thrive and capture attention in ways that traditional e-commerce channels can’t match.
What is your advice to small brands looking to start out?
[AS]: For brands just starting out, the key is to focus on creativity, authenticity and building relationships with creators and the community. TikTok Shop offers programs like Super Brand Club, which offers emerging and mid-tier brands a lower-barrier entry point into marketing and selling on TikTok Shop, providing an accessible way to build visibility and tap into TikTok Shop’s marketing support early on.
TikTok Shop has also created tools and provided resources to help businesses keep scaling. In October, we hosted our first TikTok Shop summit to help sellers of all sizes learn about the tools and opportunities available on our platform. One of the innovation highlights is A.C.E., our new growth framework centered around "Assortment, Content and Empowerment." As part of this rollout, we’ve launched a new tool in Seller Center that provides tailored, actionable guidance aligned with the A.C.E. pillars. This framework helps sellers attract the right audience, spark discovery and drive long-term success on TikTok Shop.
