Leaked TikTok campaign brief for Black Friday shows it plans to pump live shopping and reward sellers up to $1,500

• TikTok plans to push a series of “key livestreams” around Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
• It’s also running video contests where TikTok Shop sellers can win up to $1,500 in marketing credit.
• The campaign comes as TikTok Shop enters its first official holiday season in the US.

According to a campaign brief and other documentation obtained by Insider, TikTok is enlisting merchants to help push Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales through a series of seller competitions and other offers.

Between November 14 and 27, the company plans to support a series of “key livestreams” hosted by TikTok Shop sellers, which it will promote through marketing and other promotions such as being featured on its event landing page.

To participate, a seller must be able to generate at least $2,100 in sales in a single session and be willing to go live for at least 1.5 hours, according to the brief. According to a source familiar with TikTok Shop’s strategy, a successful shopping stream should last at least two hours.

Douyin, TikTok’s Chinese sister app, has made a lot of money from livestreaming. And features that do well on Douyin frequently end up on TikTok next. In May, a TikTok Shop executive in the United Kingdom told Insider that the company expects its e-commerce business to shift toward live shopping over time.

TikTok Shop’s holiday blitz includes a short-video challenge with merchant rewards. Sellers interested in participating in the campaign should post a shoppable video with the hashtags #TikTokShopBlackFriday or #TikTokShopCyberMonday. Prizes are awarded to sellers whose videos sell the most products or generate the most sales revenue, or gross merchandise value. The top 100 performing videos in each category will receive credits to promote their shoppable content in-app.

The top five GMV winners will receive $1,500 in “promote coupons,” which allow a seller to heat a video or livestream so that it appears in front of more users. Lower-ranking videos in the top 100 will earn $800 or $300.

There are also smaller prizes for the videos that generate the most orders. For example, the top five posts in terms of order quantity will earn sellers $200 in promote coupons.

This isn’t the first time TikTok has presented sellers with challenges known as missions. In exchange for rewards such as promote coupons and vouchers, the company regularly lists tasks such as uploading a certain number of products or going live a certain number of times.

“Missions are a fun and easy way to learn how to manage your TikTok Shop, while collecting rewards to help you promote your store and earn even more,” the business said in a post on its website.

In order to increase TikTok Shop adoption in the United States, the company has offered a variety of shipping deals and other discounts to sellers, as well as cash bonuses to influencers who participate in its affiliate program.

During TikTok Shop’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions, similar offers are available to sellers.

According to documents obtained by Insider, the company will fund promotional coupons during its holiday push, covering up to 50% of the cost for consumers of TikTok Shop products registered to its Black Friday or Cyber Monday campaign. Bloomberg previously reported on the discounts, which can vary depending on brand and product.

TikTok is acting like its more established e-commerce peers by ensuring its sellers are prepared for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. With reason: the holiday season is a critical time for the small businesses TikTok is courting with its new Shop platform.

While shoppers may not be flocking to stores on Black Friday as they once did, many are taking advantage of the discounts available during the Thanksgiving holiday. Shopify merchants, for example, made a record $3.36 billion in sales on Black Friday in 2022. Etsy recently revealed its own plans to assist sellers during the holiday season. One of its initiatives is the new Share & Save program, which rewards sellers who bring in new customers through marketing channels.