One of these products has sold 1.2 million units on TikTok. That's more than any other TikTok store since it launched in the U.S. last September.
GuruNanda Cocomint Pull Oil sells over 100,000 copies a week on the TikTok store, totaling 1.2 million copies. It has more than 40,000 reviews and a rating of 4.6 out of 5 It usually sells for $7.49 (minus a 30% discount on your first purchase) and offers free shipping.There are nearly 30,000 videos labeled #gurunanda on TikTok from thousands of creators, some of which have tens of millions of views, and which are responsible for these sales.
TikTok users weren't looking for GuruNanda, at least not before it became popular. They bought it because videos mentioning it were interspersed with their regular TikTok tweets. While TikTok is content-first, Amazon, Walmart and other Internet retailers are search-first. Most sales on Amazon happen because a shopper searched for the item. While TikTok has a separate store tab and a search bar, consumers shop when they see a video they like. The video creates demand. The TikTok store then allows users to check out within the app by clicking the "store" button on the video, and stores the bill and shipping details in their account.
GuruNanda's success on TikTok has spread to other channels. In January, it also became the number one bestseller in Amazon's health and home department, outselling millions of other products such as batteries, paper towels and trash bags. "guru nanda coconut oil pull" is one of the 10 most searched phrases on Amazon. On Google, "oil pulling" was rarely searched for in the last decade, but beginning in early 2023, guru nanda began to gain traction, with searches for both "guru nanda" and "oil pulling" increasing. Both "Guru Nanda" and "Oil Pulling" searches have increased.
The best sellers on TikTok aren't items from well-known brands, and the top-selling stores aren't major retailers. It's not Away luggage, it's not Glossier cosmetics, it's not retailers like Walmart or Target. Nor is it Mr. Beast's chocolate or Logan Paul's Prime drinks. It's an eclectic mix of affordable products from obscure brands, not impulse buys. For now, TikTok will likely continue to serve the best of brands that specialize in TikTok rather than established brands. This also means that there are chances of success for different types of products.
The challenge is that TikTok's model is far less straightforward than typical retail channels. It may not even be a formula, but rather an unpredictable game of finding content that satisfies the TikTok algorithm. Because there is no commerce on TikTok without video, it's a guessing game as to what video users see and what video spreads like a virus. So far, TikTok's proposed strategy for answering this question is through volume - more videos, more different videos, until one of them clicks.
TikTok is not a sales channel; it's an entertainment platform that competes with YouTube and Netflix for attention and sometimes serves as a commercial discovery engine. It won't replace Amazon or any other retailer. But many people spend a lot of time using TikTok every day, and TikTok is actively pushing shopping content to them. So while it's not Amazon, people will buy something, usually something different, and as the TikTok store grows, people will buy more.
Over the past few years, Amazon has launched a number of new brands that have leveraged the Amazon marketplace to achieve scale and brand recognition. Anker, which sells electronics, is a prime example of an Amazon homegrown brand, and GuruNanda is the epitome of a tiktok homegrown brand. While its success on TikTok eventually led to its success on Amazon, and even its popularity on Google proves its widespread recognition, it succeeded because it reached takeoff speed on TikTok.
EN 
ZH_TW 
ZH