Recently, TikTok Shop UK cross-border POP (merchant self-operation) model has been fully upgraded, opening up to merchants from 10 major platforms such as Amazon, Walmart, and independent sites.
This policy provides cross-border sellers with a low-cost opportunity to enter the fourth largest e-commerce market in Europe. But facing the UK market with 20 million daily active users, how can new stores achieve cold start traffic acquisition?
Image source: Internet
Policy Dividend: Dual Opportunities of Lowering Thresholds and Traffic Support
The upgrade of the TikTok Shop UK POP model is essentially a "market entry accelerator" provided by the platform for merchants.
1. Multi-platform qualification interoperability: Supports rapid entry for merchants from 10 e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Walmart, Temu, and independent sites, allowing the same entity to open up to 5 stores. This means merchants with cross-border experience can directly reuse their supply chain and operational experience, without having to start from scratch.
2. Limited-time incentive policy: After new merchants complete cold start tasks, the commission rate can be reduced to as low as 2% (5% for some categories) within 90 days, a significant reduction from the regular 9% rate, directly increasing initial profit margins.
3. Traffic tilt channel: US cross-border POP merchants can open UK overseas warehouse stores with one click, enjoying exposure weighting of "multiple stores + local warehouse delivery", solving the pain point of cross-border logistics timeliness.
Image source: TikTok shop
Core Strategies for Cold Start: From Traffic Breakthrough to Conversion Closed Loop
The essence of the platform algorithm is to "use data to screen potential stocks." TikTok's assessment focus for cold start stores is not the absolute value of GMV, but the growth curve and user behavior data.
1. Precisely Target the Audience
UK consumers' acceptance of social e-commerce far exceeds traditional models. You need to understand that your users do not come with a clear shopping purpose, but are inspired by content to generate purchase desire.
Therefore, the core of cold start lies in accurately reaching potential interest groups through content.
For example, the beauty brandP.Louise uses short videos with "diverse product lines + dramatized scenarios" to embed products into users' daily makeup tutorials. Single live broadcasts have sales exceeding one million pounds, successfully converting brand awareness into repurchase stickiness. According to third-party data, the brand's transaction amount on TikTok in the past seven days reachedUS$433,400.
Image source: kalodata
2. "Contrast Effect" Traffic in Content Creation
TikTok's traffic distribution mechanism has shifted from the early "traffic for all" to a dual assessment of "tags + interaction rate". New accounts may trigger "marketing account traffic restriction" if more than two videos are posted on the first day.
Therefore, in the early stage of cold start, you must restrain the impulse to "pursue quantity" and instead use "interaction rate" as the indicator. The secret to success lies in using "contrast effect" to create conflict and arouse users' curiosity.
Take theCOROS brand as an example. In influencer content creation, by comparing and evaluating a certain brand's watch at the same price point with the COROS brand's watch, the performance of the COROS brand is highlighted, thus gaining traffic brought by the "contrast effect".
Image source: TikTok
3. Influencer Collaboration and Paid Traffic Combination
The UK market has validated the dual-drive model of "influencer marketing × brand self-broadcast". For example, the home furnishing brandInterior Finish Outlet attracted traffic to its brand live room through influencer recommendation videos, achieving monthly sales of £320,000.
During the cold start phase, it is recommended to prioritize influencers with around 50,000 followers, using the "free product + commission" model, which is cost-controllable and has higher fan stickiness.
Image source: Echotik
At the same time, the "increase website visits" goal of TikTok Promote has a CPM cost 60% lower than Google Ads, making it suitable for testing material effectiveness. However, it should be noted that ad materials should avoid homogenization. Test user preferences by mixing and editing different styles of content, such as splicing funny clips with product usage scenarios, which can not only avoid the shortcoming of insufficient original materials, but also improve conversion through narrative coherence.
Image source: TikTok for Businesses
Conclusion
The opening of TikTok Shop UK POP marks the transition of social e-commerce from "barbaric growth" to "intensive cultivation". Cold start has never been a blitzkrieg of single-point breakthroughs, but a protracted battle of systematic operations, where every link must closely follow the matching logic of "people, goods, and scenarios".
When Chinese sellers enter this fertile ground of social e-commerce with supply chain advantages, only by elevating "algorithm understanding" to "human insight" can they evolve from traffic harvesters to brand builders in the TikTok Shop UK battlefield.