Thanks to Sell Across Europe, brands can also offer their products in other EU markets where TikTok Shop is available.
It is clear that the concept works. Since its launch in Germany in March 2025, 15 percent of all online consumers have already made a purchase through the platform. That is a significant share. Precisely because you are still an early adopter, now is the perfect time to get started and make the most of the opportunities TikTok Shop has to offer.
But how do you do that?
Our Marketplace Specialist, Fabian Booijen, and Marketing Manager, Laura Scheurwater, combined their expertise to create a complete TikTok Shop guide for e-commerce brands. In this article, they explain everything you need to know to make the most of this promising sales channel.
Simply put, TikTok Shop is TikTok’s built-in shopping feature. Just as you sell products on Amazon or bol, you can now also sell them through TikTok Shop in the Netherlands. While the platform was once best known for dance videos, it has evolved into a fully fledged social commerce platform that should no longer be missing from your e-commerce strategy.
TikTok Shop makes online shopping more accessible than ever. It enables brands to sell products in an interactive way, without requiring consumers to leave the app or interrupt the videos they are watching. This gives brands and sellers the freedom to showcase their products creatively through inspiring videos, livestreams and collaborations with creators.
While traditional marketplaces mainly respond to existing search intent, TikTok introduces products to consumers before they actively start looking for them. The platform combines inspiration and entertainment with the ability to make an instant purchase. As a result, the way consumers discover and buy products is fundamentally different from the experience on a traditional marketplace.
TikTok Shop allows users to make purchases while scrolling, without ever having to leave the app. Within the platform, there are several places where you can showcase and sell your products.
Every seller profile includes a shopping bag icon labelled ‘Shop’. By clicking on it, users can browse your product range and purchase items directly.
In addition, TikTok features a dedicated Shop tab in the main menu, displaying personalised products and offers. TikTok’s algorithm tailors these recommendations to each user’s interests. This is a major advantage for sellers, as their products are shown to audiences that are more likely to be genuinely interested.
Products can also be featured in shoppable videos on the For You Page. A product link appears below the video, allowing users to view and purchase the product without interrupting their viewing experience.
Another highly effective way to sell products is through TikTok Live. During a livestream, you can demonstrate your products, answer questions and give viewers the opportunity to make a purchase instantly.
In short, consumers can discover your products at multiple touchpoints throughout the platform. It is this combination of discovery and seamless purchasing that makes TikTok Shop fundamentally different from traditional sales channels, as explained above.
To start selling through TikTok Shop in the Netherlands, you first need to register as a seller via the TikTok Seller Centre. You can sign up using an existing TikTok account or create a new one. Complete the registration process by providing all required information, including your contact details, official business documents and a linked bank account for payments.
To sell through TikTok Shop, your products need to be connected to the platform. Several integration options are available, depending on your webshop and preferred workflow. For example, you can use a Channable API to automatically synchronise your product catalogue, or choose a Shopify plugin to connect your products, inventory and orders directly. The right integration keeps your product data up to date, eliminates manual work and provides the foundation for efficient and scalable selling through TikTok Shop.
The TikTok Seller Centre is very similar to the seller portals of traditional marketplaces. Below, we’ll walk you through the different sections.
Performance and To-Do List
On the Seller Centre homepage, you’ll find a dashboard that provides insight into your account performance and outstanding tasks. The performance overview displays key metrics such as your Gross Merchandise Value (GMV), Customers, SKU Orders and Visitors for the past 7 days, unless you select a different date range.
The to-do list gives you a clear overview of everything that still requires your attention. This includes orders that still need to be shipped, pending returns, unread customer messages, low inventory levels and negative reviews that still require a response.
Shop Health
Just as Amazon uses the Account Health Rating and bol uses the Quality Score, TikTok Shop also provides several performance indicators to help you monitor the health of your account. These include Shop Health, Account Health Rating and Creator Health Rating.
TikTok describes Shop Health as an overview of your shop’s performance and how well it complies with TikTok Shop policies. By monitoring this score regularly, you can help prevent violations that could negatively impact your account.
Growth Missions
TikTok also helps businesses grow through personalised Growth Missions. To encourage participation, completing these missions can even earn you rewards.
Campaigns
The platform offers a variety of campaigns, such as Today’s Deals, which sellers can join to increase their visibility.
Affiliate Centre
TikTok operates differently from most other social media platforms. While users on many platforms mainly follow friends and a handful of influencers, TikTok revolves around Creators.
These Creators play a key role in promoting your products. Through the Affiliate Centre, you can connect with more than 400 thousand creators and select those that best match your brand. Creators can apply to join the programme themselves, provided they meet certain requirements, such as a minimum number of followers.
TikTok Shop also allows you to customise the Seller Centre homepage with Quick Access. Here, you can select up to 10 shortcuts, such as Campaigns, Fulfilment and Promotions, enabling you to quickly navigate to the sections you use most frequently.
This section allows you to manage your orders and returns, as well as configure your return settings. TikTok Shop offers the option to enable automatic approval for returns and refunds. These settings can be customised within the Auto Approval settings.
For example, you can choose to automatically issue a refund without requiring the product to be returned, automatically approve return requests or create your own rules for approving refund requests. You can also define the period during which customers are allowed to request a return or refund.
Under Add Products, you can add new products to your TikTok Shop. This can be done manually, in bulk using Excel templates or by synchronising your catalogue with other platforms, such as Shopify and Amazon. In addition, the List with AI feature allows you to generate product information using AI.
You will need the following information to successfully publish your product listings:
Images
TikTok recommends uploading at least five product images to showcase your product as effectively as possible. As with other marketplaces, we recommend carefully considering which information you want to communicate through your images. For example, include photos and infographics that highlight product dimensions, key features and the product in use.
Product Name
Enter your product title here, but avoid including marketing claims such as “the best”, URLs, symbols or special characters. Make sure to localise your product title and adapt it to the language of the marketplace. If you mention a brand name, ensure that you are authorised to use it. Product titles can contain a maximum of 255 characters.
Category
TikTok Shop offers more than 750 product categories. Some categories, such as Food & Beverages and Baby & Maternity, require prior approval due to specific legal and regulatory requirements.
Always select the category that best matches your product. Depending on the category you choose, you may be asked to provide additional information, such as product-specific attributes.
Description
Write a product description of at least 500 characters. Keep your customer in mind and aim to answer any questions they may have about the product. The more complete and informative your product description is, the greater the chance of converting visitors into customers.
Video
You can also add a product video. Since TikTok is a platform built around video content, we highly recommend doing so. The maximum file size is 100 MB.
The information required in this section depends on the product category you have selected. For example, you can add product variations and specify how much inventory you have available.
If applicable to the selected product category, this is where you provide the required compliance information. This may include safety warnings, manufacturer details and information about the responsible person.
This is where you enter all the information related to shipping your orders, such as the shipment weight and package dimensions. You also have the option to enable Default Free Shipping, making your products more attractive to customers.
Under Manage Products, you will find an overview of all the products you have added. Here, you can view product performance, current status, available inventory and identify products that require additional attention.
Within Product Ratings, you can view customer reviews and respond to them directly. The Product Bundles section allows you to combine complementary products into attractive bundles. You will also find Product Opportunities and Global Listings, which help you expand your product range and grow your business internationally.
Within Logistics, you can manage everything related to the fulfilment of your TikTok Shop. This includes adding warehouses, configuring fulfilment (where available) and managing your shipping settings under Shipping.
An important rule within TikTok Shop is that you can only use your own shipping method if you have a local warehouse in the country where you are selling.
If you use the Sell Globally feature to copy your listings to other European marketplaces and you do not have a local warehouse in a specific country, orders will automatically be shipped using that country’s TikTok Shipping Labels.
This section contains all the marketing tools TikTok Shop has to offer. Under Shop Ads, you can create and manage advertising campaigns. The Promotions section allows you to offer discounts, create vouchers and launch live promotions. Within Campaigns, you will find an overview of upcoming campaigns that you can register for. In addition, Smart Promotion helps you optimise and grow your business.
As mentioned earlier, the TikTok Affiliate Centre gives you access to more than 400 thousand creators, allowing you to find the best matches for your brand. This makes creating engaging content much easier. In addition, the content comes from creators rather than your brand itself, which often has a positive impact on credibility and engagement.
Not only can you invite creators to collaborate, but creators can also discover and promote your products on their own. You can also work with agencies and partners to launch affiliate campaigns. Through Collaboration Analytics, you gain valuable insights into the performance of your products, creators and content.
Within TikTok Shop, several performance scores are used to assess the health of your account, including the Account Health Rating, Creator Health Rating and Shop Performance Score.
Account Health Rating
The Account Health Rating provides an overview of your account’s performance based on a range of metrics, including the Late Dispatch Rate, Seller Fault Cancellation Rate, Valid Tracking Rate and On-Time Delivery Rate.
For each metric, TikTok also provides a target that sellers should aim to achieve in order to maintain a healthy account. In addition, this section contains an overview of any Policy Violations associated with your account.
Creator Health Rating
The Creator Health Rating is based on a points system in which you can both earn and lose points. You lose points when content violates TikTok’s policies and earn points when orders are placed. You receive one point for every ten completed orders.
There are several conditions attached to this system. Orders must have been successfully delivered and the return period must have expired before points are awarded. In addition, all earned points automatically expire after 90 days.
Shop Performance Score
The Shop Performance Score evaluates your shop based on product satisfaction, fulfilment and logistics, and customer service. The score ranges from 0 to 5.
TikTok also provides a visual breakdown showing how this score is calculated. It is important to note that the weighting of the different metrics may vary depending on the product category.
For consumers, the biggest advantage is convenience. There is no need to leave the app, as products can be purchased instantly while watching a video. This makes online shopping more accessible, faster and more seamless.
For sellers, TikTok Shop offers several key advantages:
We believe TikTok Shop will be one of the biggest e-commerce developments of the coming years. But how do you make the most of it?
Make sure your foundation is in place
On traditional marketplaces, good preparation is half the battle, and the same applies to TikTok Shop. You can create outstanding videos, run effective advertising campaigns and collaborate with creators, but if your pricing, inventory and logistics are not properly organised, your results will ultimately fall short.
Take advantage of the marketing tools
TikTok Shop offers sellers a wide range of promotional opportunities. One feature that immediately stood out to us is the extensive voucher functionality. You can create vouchers for followers, new customers and even share them directly through customer chats. In addition, you can create promotional codes and use review vouchers to encourage customers to leave reviews. Collecting reviews on traditional marketplaces is often challenging, so these voucher options can give your products a valuable boost.
By using these features strategically, you can make your marketing campaigns even more effective.
Work with creators
On TikTok, creators are at the heart of the platform. Building success without working with them is therefore a significant challenge.
On one hand, you have creators with a large audience who produce content across a wide variety of topics. Partnering with them allows you to reach a large number of people instantly. However, this also comes with drawbacks. These collaborations often require a substantial investment, while the audience may be less targeted.
Our advice is not to underestimate niche creators. Just like niche marketplaces, they can play an important role in your strategy. These creators often have highly engaged audiences with specific interests, allowing you to reach the right consumers more effectively without the higher costs associated with the largest creators.
Keep in mind that you will usually need to collaborate with multiple creators to generate real impact. Be sure to factor this into your budget. Depending on your products, we recommend finding the right balance between a few larger creators and several niche creators.
Pay close attention to your margins
TikTok charges a 9 percent commission on sales. If you also collaborate with creators, an additional commission is often added, which can significantly increase your costs.
If you sell products with low profit margins, your business may quickly become unprofitable. We therefore recommend starting with products that offer sufficient margin to absorb these additional costs.
Fulfilled by TikTok
With Fulfilled by TikTok (FbT), sellers can make use of TikTok’s fulfilment services. These include product storage, shipping, returns handling, customer service, co-funded free shipping and faster delivery options.
At the moment, this service is only available in a number of larger European markets, such as Germany. If Fulfilled by TikTok becomes available in the Netherlands in the future, it will certainly be an option worth considering.
As you’ve seen throughout this guide, TikTok Shop offers significant opportunities for sellers in the Netherlands, and we believe it is a valuable addition to any e-commerce strategy. The platform brings together social media, content, creators, advertising and e-commerce in one integrated ecosystem.
Success on TikTok Shop starts with the right preparation. A well-configured Seller Centre, complete product information, a solid logistics strategy, the right creator partnerships and smart marketing campaigns together form the foundation for sustainable growth on the platform.
We expect TikTok Shop to play an increasingly important role in the e-commerce landscape over the coming years. Because the platform is still in its early stages in the Netherlands, now is an excellent opportunity to get started, build your presence and gain a competitive advantage.
Would you like to find out what TikTok Shop can do for your brand? Are you experiencing difficulties setting up your account, or could you use support in building a successful strategy? At MarketPlace Expert, our team of specialists knows exactly how to help your brand make the most of the opportunities TikTok Shop has to offer. Feel free to get in touch or visit our Selling on TikTok Shop page. We’d be happy to help you grow.
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