TikTok Shop vs. Amazon: How TikTok Shop is Changing E-Commerce

Scholars and industry analysts often frame Amazon as a prime example of a successful digital ecosystem driver, as it was pivotal in the shift from traditional business models, and it did well by creating a valuable experience for customers through its data-driven platform (Weill, P., & Woerner, S. L., 2015). This made me wonder, is Amazon as unchallenged as it seems, or are there newer disruptions it should be watchful of?

In the last year, TikTok Shop has grown in Europe, opening in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Ireland after making billions of dollars in sales in Southeast Asia and the US. According to the Washington Post, TikTok drove around $14.7 billion in revenue in 2023 for just small-business owners (Lorenz, 2024). While the Netherlands does not yet have a dedicated TikTok Shop, the market is growing rapidly across Europe and is thought to have more than 72 million potential customers (Arjan, 2025).

TikTok’s model, unlike other social shopping experiences, keeps buyers in its app. Products are discovered directly in the feed, as TikTok uses its algorithm to suggest products, often through users’ favorite creators, rather than through a traditional search (Melgarejo-Espinoza et al., 2025). Thus, it shows users personalized advertisements based on their engagement habits, not just shopping habits. This makes shopping on TikTok Shop feel like a natural part of entertainment instead of a separate shopping activity. In this way, TikTok changes how people expect to interact with e-commerce, showing how a platform with strong consumer relationships, originally outside of the retail industry, can provide competitive services and put pressure on well-established retail ecosystems like Amazon. It seems then that even secure market leaders like Amazon must continuously assess digital threats.

From your point of view, do you think TikTok’s e-commerce is a passing trend, or could it potentially disrupt Amazon’s dominance in Europe?

References:
Arjan. (2025, March 31). 72 million Europeans gain access to TikTok Shop. E-commerce News.
https://ecommercenews.eu/72-million-europeans-gain-access-to-tiktok-shop/

Lorenz, T. (2024, March 13).“TikTok Claims Its Contribution to the Economy Is Huge.” The
Washington Post. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/03/13/tik-tok-economic-impact-report/.

Melgarejo-Espinoza, R., Gonzales-Cruz, M., Chavez-Perez, J., & Iparraguirre-Villanueva, O.
(2025). Impact of the TikTok algorithm on the effectiveness of marketing strategies: A
study of consumer behavior and content preferences. International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications, 16(2). https://doi.org/10.14569/ijacsa.2025.0160215

Weill, P., & Woerner, S. L. 2015. Thriving in an increasingly digital ecosystem. MIT Sloan
Management Review, 56(4), 27.