Survey data reveals TikTok can be a valuable branding tool.

New survey data exclusively released to Chain Store Age by Adobe Express reveals how consumers use TikTok for brand discovery and shopping activities.

The survey of 1,005 U.S. TikTok users reveals that 25% of respondents have adopted the platform specifically as a tool for seeking out new brands. This is especially true among surveyed women, who were more likely to look for new brands on TikTok (29%) than surveyed men (25%). 

Respondents selected TikTok as their most commonly used platform for brand discovery, followed by YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X. Top reasons for using TikTok to discover brands were diversity of content (49%), shorter content (42%), and more effective algorithms (40%).

Two in three respondents who have found a brand they liked on TikTok have made a purchase. Of those, 56% bought from a third-party vendor and 44% directly from the TikTok Shop e-commerce platform.

Top reasons respondents gave for using TikTok Shop were convenience (53%) and competitive pricing (52%). Top reasons for not using the platform were trust issues (49%) and lack of familiarity (40%).

Gen X was the generation most likely to have bought something on TikTok Shop — 50% of respondents in this age range have done so compared to 43% of both millennials and Gen Z.

On average, respondents had spent $49 in the past month on purchases inspired by TikTok.. The average spend on TikTok-inspired purchases varied by respondent generation:

• Millennials ($52).
• Gen Z ($47).
• Gen X ($44).