TikTok has just unlocked three major new markets for social commerce. As of March 31, 2025, TikTok Shop officially launched in Germany, Italy, and France, expanding beyond its UK base.
For UK-based merchants, especially fast-growing brands like our clients P.Louise, Nutrition Geeks, 2bTanned, and IsoClean, this is exciting news. It means the TikTok shopping frenzy that drove your UK sales can now reach millions of new customers across Europe. In this post, we’ll explore what TikTok Shop’s expansion means for you, why getting in early matters, and how you can scale into these markets seamlessly – with a little help from tools like Helm. Let’s dive in!
TikTok Shop Launches in Germany, Italy & France – What’s New?
TikTok Shop – the in-app shopping platform on TikTok – has been a hit in the UK since 2021. Now it’s finally available to shoppers in France, Germany, and Italy as well. In total, over 72 million people across these three countries just gained access to TikTok’s shopping features. That’s a colossal new audience now able to discover and buy products through TikTok videos and LIVE streams. TikTok itself calls this expansion “a new opportunity for brands of all sizes”, blending entertainment with ecommerce in markets that rank among Europe’s largest.
This rollout is part of TikTok’s big push into Europe. (They’d piloted TikTok Shop in Spain and Ireland earlier, and it’s been live in the US since late 2023.) By adding Germany, France, and Italy, TikTok Shop now spans six European countries, covering the region’s biggest ecommerce economies. For context, Germany alone has 24.2 million monthly TikTok users who can now shop in-app. That’s roughly a quarter of Germany’s population potentially buying through TikTok. France and Italy bring millions more. In short, TikTok just opened the floodgates to a massive pan-European customer base – all through the TikTok app.
Importantly, TikTok is investing heavily to make this a success. Major brands jumped on board at launch: for example, Carrefour (a huge French retailer) joined TikTok Shop France, and About You and Nivea launched on TikTok Shop Germany on day one.
TikTok’s Head of Shop Operations in Europe noted they expect to “launch with more speed” in these countries than the UK, since consumers and creators are already familiar with TikTok’s shopping model now. In other words, things could ramp up fast. This early momentum means UK sellers have a timely chance to expand before these new TikTok Shop markets get crowded.
Why This Expansion Matters for UK Merchants
- Millions of New Customers at Your Fingertips: By extending TikTok Shop into mainland Europe, TikTok is handing you a ready-made pipeline to new buyers. The combined TikTok user base in Germany, Italy, and France is enormous – over 72 million users who didn’t have TikTok Shop access until now. These are users who already scroll TikTok daily; now they can discover and purchase products without leaving the app. For a UK brand, that means you can instantly reach shoppers in Paris, Berlin, Rome and beyond through the same TikTok content you’re already creating. There’s no need to painstakingly build a new audience from scratch – your TikTok videos and LIVE streams can start appearing to Europeans and turning into sales overnight.
- First-Mover Advantage (Low Competition): TikTok Shop may be established in the UK, but in France, Germany, and Italy it’s brand new. Very few local merchants have set up shop on TikTok yet, which translates to far less competition for audience attention and wallet share. Early adopters are likely to get prime visibility on the TikTok Shop feeds. (One industry statistic noted that as of late 2024, under 13% of French e-commerce sites even linked to TikTok on their homepage– meaning social commerce is largely untapped there). By jumping in now, a UK seller can become a trending pioneer in these markets before everyone else piles in. It’s a chance to build brand recognition and following in Europe ahead of the crowd. In practical terms: your products could be among the first that Italian or German TikTok users see in their new Shop tab, simply because you’re there and your competitors aren’t (yet).
- Sky-High Engagement & Buying Intent on TikTok: TikTok isn’t just another sales channel – it’s a viral content machine known for turning viewers into buyers at remarkable rates. The platform’s mix of short-form video, influencers, and algorithm-driven discovery creates a shopping environment where impulse purchases thrive. Consider these facts: 75% of TikTok users say they’re likely to buy from brands they see on TikTok Shop. In fact, shoppers are twice as likely to buy directly on TikTok than on other marketplaces because the experience is so entertaining and seamless. Globally, TikTok Shop has been dominating social commerce – as of early 2024 it drove 68% of all social commerce GMV worldwide, far outpacing Facebook, Instagram, and others. This momentum is only growing. In the UK, TikTok Shop sales volume jumped 85% year-over-year recently, and in Asia TikTok Shop sales soared from $4.4B in 2022 to a forecasted $20B in 2023. The takeaway for you: TikTok social commerce is on fire, and these new European markets are primed to follow suit. Early sellers can ride that wave of growth and viral reach – turning content into sales in countries you’ve never sold in before.
- Easy Expansion – Minimal Friction: Unlike entering a new country via a local website or third-party marketplace, TikTok Shop makes international expansion remarkably frictionless. You don’t need to localize an entire e-commerce site or set up foreign distribution centers on day one. Your existing TikTok Shop account and processes can extend to new territories with relatively little effort. TikTok has built an integrated ecosystem: product listings, order processing, and payment are handled in-app, and they’ve even introduced logistics support like Fulfilled by TikTok for certain regions.
- Essentially, TikTok wants to make cross-border social selling plug-and-play. For UK merchants, this means you can test the waters in France, Germany, or Italy quickly and cost-effectively – just list your products for those markets, create content, and be ready to ship internationally. The platform itself helps with discovery (its algorithm will show your videos to relevant users abroad), so you can focus on showcasing your products rather than battling for ad placement. It’s international scaling in the most streamlined way we’ve perhaps ever seen in e-commerce.
- Success Stories Point to the Potential: Still on the fence? Look at what fellow UK brands have achieved on TikTok Shop – and imagine replicating that success across Europe. P.Louise, a cosmetics brand, became a TikTok Shop legend by leveraging viral LIVE events and savvy promotions. In one 12-hour TikTok LIVE sale, P.Louise pulled in over £1.5 million in revenue – selling two products every second at peak – a record for a UK TikTok Shop brand. They’ve built an avid community of 2.9M followers and now sell 250,000+ products every month via TikTok Shop. That kind of explosive engagement and scale simply wouldn’t be possible on traditional channels.
Nutrition Geeks, a UK supplements retailer, saw a similar TikTok-fueled boom – over $2 million in sales in just 4 months, with 377,000 items sold. They achieved this by tapping TikTok’s affiliate creators and viral videos, becoming the #1 TikTok Shop GMV driver in their category.
And it’s not just big numbers; it’s fast growth. 2bTanned, a small tanning product startup, went from launch to dominating TikTok’s beauty category in a matter of months, thanks to clever TikTok campaigns and live demos. They’ve run marathon live streams (one summer sale LIVE drew 1.5 million likes from viewers) that translated into massive sales and follower growth.
Likewise, IsoClean (a makeup cleaning solution) grew into a cult favorite by using TikTok content to educate consumers – turning engagement into revenue and establishing itself as a top seller in its niche. These cases prove that TikTok Shop rewards creative, growth-minded sellers. If your brand can capture UK shoppers on TikTok, there’s a good chance you can capture hearts (and carts) in Europe too – especially by being among the first movers in these new markets.
TikTok Shop’s formula of entertaining content + in-app checkout is a powerful engine for growth. Shoppers discover products through fun videos and real-time streams, and with a couple taps, they order instantly. This “discovery commerce” model means content is king – and early-adopting brands can quickly build a following by showcasing their products in creative ways. As the examples above show, engaging TikTok content can translate into serious sales. Now, with France, Germany, and Italy open for business, UK sellers can replicate these winning strategies on a much larger stage.
Scaling into Europe – Seamlessly Managing Multi-Country Sales
Expanding your TikTok Shop reach from the UK into Europe is a huge opportunity – but it also raises the practical question: How do you handle all those orders across different countries? Selling in multiple markets can get complicated if you’re not prepared. You might worry about things like managing inventory for different regions, handling international shipping and returns, and keeping track of orders from various TikTok Shop country portals. The good news is, you don’t have to do it manually. With the right tools, you can keep everything running smoothly in one place. This is where a solution like Helm (a leading Warehouse Management System platform, formerly Despatch Cloud) comes in.
Helm is currently the only WMS platform with a direct integration to TikTok Shop’s new channels in France, Germany, and Italy. In fact, Helm has been at the forefront of TikTok Shop integrations since last year – they announced a seamless TikTok Shop integration in late 2023, enabling e-commerce brands to easily sync TikTok orders with their fulfilment workflows.
- For a UK merchant now selling via TikTok in multiple countries, Helm acts as the central hub that ties it all together. Here are some key advantages of using Helm to manage your multi-territory TikTok Shop expansion:
- Unified Order Management: All your TikTok Shop orders – whether from the UK, Germany, Italy, or France – flow into one dashboard. You don’t have to log into four different TikTok Seller Centers or juggle spreadsheets. Helm pulls in the orders automatically via its integration, so your team can pick, pack, and dispatch from a single system. This unified view means you’ll never miss an order, and you can maintain consistent processes for every market.
- Centralised Inventory Control: Expanding sales shouldn’t mean splitting your stock into silos. Helm lets you manage one inventory that updates in real time across all TikTok Shop channels. For example, if you have 500 units of a product and sell 50 via TikTok Shop France, Helm will update the stock level to 450 for all other channels immediately. This prevents overselling and stockouts, which is crucial when you’re operating in multiple countries. You can confidently promote your products across Europe knowing your inventory counts are accurate everywhere
- Streamlined Fulfilment & Shipping: Fulfilling international orders can be tricky, but Helm simplifies it. It can integrate with 150+ couriers and generate shipping labels for international services just as easily as domestic ones. You can batch-print labels and customs paperwork for all your European TikTok orders in one go. Helm also supports rules and automations – for instance, routing German orders to a specific warehouse or applying the correct carrier service for Italian orders. By automating these steps, you ensure quick dispatch and delivery, keeping your new overseas customers happy.
- Localised Order Details in One System: Helm captures the necessary order info from TikTok Shop (like the customer’s address, chosen variations, etc.) and can help format it for each country. Need to include certain info for EU shipments or handle duties? Helm can assist in making sure all the t’s are crossed. Essentially, it bridges the gap between TikTok’s front-end and your warehouse operations, so you don’t have to manually re-enter or translate anything.
- Analytics Across Markets: Through Helm’s reporting, you can track your TikTok Shop performance across the UK and the new markets side by side. See which products are hottest in France, or how Germany’s order volume compares to the UK, all from one analytics interface. These insights help you tweak your strategy for each region – maybe you need more stock of Product X in Italy, or a faster courier for Germany – without hunting through separate reports.
In short, Helm removes the logistical headaches of multi-country selling. It was built to connect to 90+ sales channels via API, and TikTok Shop’s new European channels are already plugged in. As Helm’s team puts it, this integration “guarantees a smooth entry” into these expanding e-commerce markets, letting merchants leverage TikTok’s growth “with minimal obstacles”.
Practically, that means you can focus on marketing and scaling your business on TikTok Shop, while Helm handles the heavy lifting of orders, inventory, and fulfillment in the background. The result? You get all the upside of reaching new customers, without being overwhelmed by operational complexity.
Ready to Ride the TikTok Shop Wave? – Book a Demo with Helm
TikTok Shop’s expansion into Germany, Italy, and France represents a huge opportunity for ambitious UK sellers. It’s not often that a new sales channel opens up tens of millions of potential customers virtually overnight – especially on a platform as engaging as TikTok. By getting in early, you can capture new markets, grow your brand internationally, and enjoy the benefits of social commerce momentum (before your competitors do). We’ve seen how brands like P.Louise and Nutrition Geeks skyrocketed by embracing TikTok Shop; now the playing field has expanded and your brand could be next to go viral across Europe.
Success will require the right strategy and the right tools. Leverage TikTok’s strengths – create authentic content, team up with influencers, run exciting live events – to connect with shoppers in these new regions. And ensure your operations are up to speed with a platform like Helm, so every order from Paris to Berlin is handled flawlessly. With TikTok driving discovery and Helm powering fulfilment, you have a powerful end-to-end solution to scale up.
Don’t miss out on this moment. The brands that move swiftly will reap the rewards of new reach and revenue. If you’re ready to supercharge your growth by expanding into TikTok’s latest markets, we invite you to book a demo with Helm. Let us show you how easily you can integrate TikTok Shop (UK & EU) into your workflow and manage all your orders in one place. Tap into our TikTok Shop integration and expertise – so you can focus on creating, selling, and winning over new customers across Europe.
👉 Book a Demo with Helm today and let’s take your TikTok Shop success international. Your future European customers are scrolling TikTok right now – let’s make sure your products are the ones they discover next!
