Eyeliner Out of stock? Blame TikTok

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Sonya Dube went shopping for more than one of her favorite makeup products, a Charlotte Tilbury highlighter, this summer only to find it was out of stock again.

Ms Dube, who is 23 and works in sales for a tech company, discovered the brand’s Hollywood Flawless Filter product on social media platform TikTok, where the article is a favorite of beauty content creators for its ability to add a dewy glow to the skin as a foundation or as a finishing touch. So it was only natural that Ms Dube turned to TikTok to document her exasperation at not being able to find another bottle.

She posted a video of herself in August getting ready with a turquoise headband and her makeup half applied and wrote that she couldn’t find the highlighter. The video racked up over 35,000 views, along with comments from other frustrated potential buyers. It took Ms. Dube several weeks to buy the Flawless Filter highlighter again.

I’m nervous it’s running out because hopefully we’ve gotten over this phase where there’s no stock all the time, Ms Dube said.

From makeup to miniature Dash waffle irons and Stanley water cups, items are going viral on TikTok and other social media platforms, launching seemingly modest products into booming sales and making items nearly impossible to find. For brands and their promoters, this creates a new challenge: how to build supply chains for products that can sell in the millions, but only if they catch fire online?

Retailers are trying to adapt as more consumers turn to social media to shop. In the United States, around 30% of social media users surveyed recently by the Pew Research Center said they purchased a product after seeing an influencer or content creator post it online. This figure was 50% for women aged 18 to 29.

Shopping, known as social commerce, is moving away from marketplaces, such as Amazon.com Inc.’s large virtual storefront, which features product lines and has been the foundation of online sales. Overall, online sales surged during the Covid-19 pandemic as stay-at-home consumers ordered more products online, and for many consumers, apps like TikTok and their colorful and engaging video streams turned into a direct link to brands.

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About $37 billion worth of goods and services were purchased in the United States last year through social commerce, up from $27 billion in 2020, according to consulting firm McKinsey & Co., which forecasts sales will reach nearly $80 billion by 2025.

Social shopping has developed alongside TikTok, the short-form video app that has exploded in popularity during the pandemic and is owned by Chinese company ByteDance Ltd. , according to analytics firm Sensor Tower Inc.

TikTok is particularly popular among coveted Gen Z retailers. It was the most downloaded app for people aged 18 to 24 from the first quarter of 2021 to the second quarter of 2022, the most recent data available, according to SensorTower.

App users scroll through an ever-changing stream of videos tailored to their interests, which can include makeup, cleaning products, books or comedy. The apps algorithm recommends similar videos in that direction when a user watches, including posts from people the user doesn’t specifically follow.

Professional content creators on apps like TikTok or Meta Platform Inc.’s Instagram post videos of themselves using items ranging from carpet cleaners to holiday decorations. The videos look a lot like QVC for Gen Z as the creators prop up their phones and speak directly into the camera, showing viewers things like the consistency of lip gloss, the mistakes they’ve made using a new hair dryer for the first time, or how one eyeshadow color compares to another.

Viewers can often click on a link to purchase an item immediately, making the shopping experience almost seamless if the product is in stock.

The growing popularity of social commerce has pushed retailers and brands to figure out how to keep the right products in stock at the right time to avoid missing sales.

TikTok is especially popular among the coveted Gen Z demographic. Photo: Stanislav Kogiku/Zuma Press

Charlotte Tilbury has sought to adapt its supply chain to meet customer demand as products go viral, a company spokesperson said. The brand also uses data to track trends around the world and adjust the offer accordingly.

Maybelline New York got a viral bump this fall when its Lifter Gloss, a lip gloss with a slight plumping effect, surged in popularity online during the back-to-school season. Lip gloss sales doubled in October from the same month a year earlier, a company spokesperson said.

Although we weren’t officially out of stock, it certainly limited our lines and put us in a position where we had to invest up front, said Olga Schakler, Assistant Vice President of Lip Category Marketing. at Maybelline, which is part of LOral. Band.

We’re doing our best to hold enough stock to get us through times like these, Ms. Schakler said.

Scarcity of availability does not necessarily harm a brand’s image. Heather Mueller, director of marketing and product at transportation technology company Breakthrough, said brands might even get extra buzz when products become hard to find. There’s a bit of an appeal created there, she says.

Supply chain company ShopSocial Inc., doing business as Trendsi, says it is working to help retailers be more agile in order fulfillment by using a tactic called drop-shipping, in which a retailer takes orders from customers and asks the manufacturer to deliver them without inventory. through its own stores or warehouses.

The TikTok effect goes beyond clothes and makeup and has reached holiday decorations.

An artificial Christmas tree at Home Depot Inc. retailer called the Grand Duchess has gained popularity after customers began posting videos of themselves setting it up and using its light settings to distance. This drew admiring comments, as well as comments from users saying they couldn’t find the tree.

The tree that went viral is one of our favorite trees, said Lance Allen, senior merchant for holiday decorating at the home improvement retailer. We expected it to be one of the best trees. But still, when it comes back with the millions of views that have been seen, we can’t have enough inventory to fully support that.

Write to Liz Young at [email protected]

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