TikTok Shop has cemented its position as one of the UK’s largest e-commerce platforms, with new data revealing that over 300,000 small UK businesses are now selling on the platform. The findings underscore the platform’s growing role as a space for independent British businesses to thrive. Pointing to a wider shift across the retail sector, for a growing number of independent brands, momentum on TikTok Shop is now translating into growth beyond the app – a pattern TikTok Shop UK calls the TikTok Shop Halo Effect, where success on-platform helps businesses win new customers, expand into new channels and, in some cases, take their first steps into physical retail and new product lines.
LIVE Shopping driving real-time commerce
LIVE Shopping is the biggest growth behind that momentum, a format that allows sellers to engage with customers in real-time, host Q+As and share tailored expertise directly with their audience. Sales via TikTok Shop LIVE sessions have grown 55% over the last year, with more than 6,000 real-time LIVE shopping sessions happening every day on the platform in the UK.
Discussing the impact of TikTok Shop LIVE, Daisy Kelly, Founder of Glow For It – who made £100,000 in one day on a TikTok Shop LIVE – said “It’s categorically changed the trajectory of my business”.
As consumers increasingly adapt to buying in real time, 57% of Gen Z and Millennial shoppers report enjoying watching live shopping events such as TikTok Shop LIVE, as revealed by Savvy in its May 2026 Shopper Panel.
Manny Malik of Malik Butchers commented: “Recently, we did a TikTok LIVE for three hours and sold £8,000 worth of meat which would typically take 3-4 days in my high street shop .”
Similarly, Buket Sevik, founder of Adorina praised TikTok Shop LIVE for its flexibility; “I can go LIVE whenever I want… which means it works absolutely perfectly for me as a mum. I can put my daughter to sleep, and I can just hit go live and do some sales.”
Understanding the flexible and far reaching opportunities for engagement that TikTok Shop LIVE presents, independent brands are taking note.
L’ERA Jewellery (@lerajewellery) is a London-based, family-run jewellery business, specialising in sterling silver, gold vermeil and lab-grown diamond jewellery, combining Italian heritage with accessible luxury. Founded in August 2023 by mother-and-daughter duo Lara Sofia-Mar and Angèle Sofia, L’ERA Jewellery began as a side hustle built whilst the founders juggled demanding, 9-5 corporate jobs.
Like many independent businesses just getting started, the pair dedicated early mornings, late nights and weekends to crafting pieces and fulfilling orders, before finally making the leap to go full-time. Fast forward to 2025 and L’ERA made six figures in TikTok Shop LIVE sales alone, supercharged by a TikTok Shop strategy that includes hosting four LIVE Shopping sessions a week.
Angèle Sofia, Co-Founder of L’ERA Jewellery said: “When we first took L’ERA to TikTok Shop, the platform gave us the opportunity to share our story directly with the people who most connected with it. Through LIVE Shopping sessions, we’ve been able to speak directly with our community, answering customer questions in real time and sharing the more informative content that can often be missed in a simple product listing. Through the LIVE conversation with our customers, TikTok Shop has completely changed the pace at which we’ve been able to grow.”
Jan Wilk, Head of TikTok Shop UK said: “Reaching 300,000 UK small businesses on TikTok Shop is a huge milestone and it shows the scale of opportunity – whether you’re an established retailer or a founder making your very first sale. Momentum on TikTok Shop is translating into growth beyond the app, what we call the TikTok Shop Halo Effect. Launching on TikTok Shop is helping brands win new customers, grow sales across other channels as well as on our platform, and even take steps towards physical retail and new product lines. We’re proud to be helping UK businesses of every size grow faster, on TikTok Shop and beyond”
