Tiktok continues to dominate the social media space with growth across all metrics. The short-form video app now has over 1 billion users, doubling its user base in the past twelve months. The bulk of this is made up of teenagers. TikTok's growth was not isolated to only users. Its revenue grew by over 70% to almost $60 billion in the past year, compared to the $34 billion in 2020.
The giants of the social media space are looking on with trepidation as it continues to steal users from the aging platforms such as Facebook(the bulk of Facebook users are almost ten years older on average). Research has shown that over 70% of the time people spend on their phones is through a social media platform. The battle is on between the social media giants for the attention, time, and money of these active users.
Online Shopping and Social Media
Online shopping on social media is still in the beginning stages and will continue to expand at a rapid pace in the coming years. Tiktok continues to strengthen its position through new ventures and partnerships that target this growth potential.
Tiktok has launched a fast-fashion online shopping platform called dmonstudio.com to capture the attention of this new type of consumer. It currently operates in over 100 countries with warehouses worldwide, and its main focus is selling women's fashion and accessories.Â
What is fast fashion?
Fast fashion is a growing business model in the fashion industry where everything is built on speed: Fast production, fast selling, and ever-changing faster fashion trends. It ties in with the current consumers' ever-decreasing attention span and hunger for the latest and greatest trends by social media influencers and fashion retailers pushing this new trend.
Fashion styles used to take months of planning and production and included fewer items on offer. Now brands are pivoting to the ever-increasing demand put forth by the plethora of celebrities and influencers promoting millions of products each day to their followers.
The timeline from design to production and being on sale can take as little as 7 to 10 days.
These are often low-cost items worn only a few times before it finds its way into the trash. The effect of this new trend on the environment is staggering, with extra waste materials, water usage, plastic contaminants produced annually.
A Challenge for Retailers and Social Media platforms
How Tiktok and other platforms offset the negatives around fast fashion remains to be seen. Some consumers are pushing back against environmentally damaging brands. The onus will be on the retailers and platforms to ensure that the damage and waste are limited as this new trend continues to grow.
Social selling shows a lot of potential but also rather worrying to see the effects of fast selling on the environment