Big news! TikTok Shop kicks off a peak carnival, creating a "golden springboard" for cross-border merchants in the middle of the year.

Surprise attack in the content field to reshape the growth of cross - border promotions.

Text by | Miao Yue

Edited by | Shi Lei

The afterglow of the 618 promotion in China has not yet faded, but a crucial battle concerning the fate of cross - border merchants in the second half of the year has quietly begun overseas. The mid - year consumption season in Europe and America (hereinafter referred to as the "mid - year promotion") is a much - anticipated global e - commerce carnival that is gearing up.

On the giant screens on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York, the scarlet countdowns for summer promotions are bombarding viewers one after another. From the Galeries Lafayette in Paris to the central exhibition hall of KaDeWe in Berlin, the ubiquitous promotion previews are constantly arousing the long - pent - up consumption desires in the overseas market.

Online, Yibang Power has learned that during this year's mid - year promotion, Amazon's Prime Day spans four days, making it the longest - ever Prime Day. Walmart has also extended its event, with the promotion lasting for six days. Temu launched a low - price offensive with a 21 - day long marketing period. And the much - anticipated US market of TikTok Shop is about to officially start its mid - year "battle" at the end of June and early July.

It is worth noting that TikTok Shop's mid - year promotion in the US market offers the most substantial resources since the beginning of the year, and it has also launched the largest - scale mid - year promotion in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain in Europe since its establishment.

For cross - border merchants, this year's mid - year promotion battlefield is highly competitive, but the opportunities are also unprecedented.

01 Why is the mid - year promotion a "golden springboard" for cross - border merchants?

"It's very difficult to restock seasonal products because a 3 - 5 - month inventory preparation cycle is required. From the factory scheduling to the trans - oceanic transportation, every link squeezes the error - tolerance space." Giefu, the operator of a TikTok Shop homeware brand (festival products), frankly pointed out the pain points in the industry. Therefore, when the products from the previous quarter are out of season, the "mid - year promotion" becomes a crucial window for merchants to clear their inventory.

Meanwhile, before the "peak" of the cross - border year - end peak season arrives, merchants can also use the mid - year promotion to plant seeds in advance, test potential hit products, and stockpile "ammunition" (user pool, data insights, hit product upgrades, etc.) for the next stage of explosion. And this kind of supply - chain prediction precipitated from a "big promotion" is becoming a standard ability for leading cross - border merchants.

The relevant person in charge of the fitness equipment brand LICHICO once pointed out that during the Black Friday promotion in 2024, the orders soared by 300%, which was a stress test for the brand. After that, they reorganized their overseas customer service team. "Now our English - speaking customer service team even includes local professional fitness coaches (who can better understand users' intentions), and the return rate has dropped by 23%." In his opinion, grasping the extreme challenges brought by each promotion is even more important than short - term sales in the long run.

For merchants, before the "peak" of the cross - border year - end peak season arrives, the mid - year promotion is being given dual strategic values - it is not only a window to clear out - of - season inventory but also a "pre - emptive battle" to verify the potential of hit products and accumulate user assets.

This "fight to sustain fighting" logic is reshaping the operation models of cross - border merchants. Leading players have formed a flywheel effect of "promotion - review - iteration": they use the promotion data to feed back into the supply - chain prediction and convert indicators such as users' search keywords and video viewing duration into production instructions.

"After each promotion explosion, we will face challenges in after - sales service and resource allocation. But it is precisely these challenges that allow us to continuously optimize our team structure and operation strategies and accumulate valuable experience for future promotions and brand activities." LICHICO said.

02 How does "content e - commerce" bring "new logic" to the mid - year promotion?

If the mid - year promotion is a "golden springboard" for cross - border merchants' business in the second half of the year, then content e - commerce can inject unprecedented momentum into this springboard with its unique "content gene". To some extent, content e - commerce is also injecting new variables into the gameplay and value of cross - border mid - year promotions.

For sellers willing to deeply cultivate platform e - commerce, 2025 will undoubtedly be a crucial year. Taking the US market of TikTok Shop as an example, the gameplay in 2025 will be more in - depth, and there will be more room for exploration whether it is self - made content or cooperation with influencers.

Yibang Power found that in 2024, the content e - commerce ecosystem of TikTok Shop was rapidly maturing and splitting - the GMV in the US market increased by 220% year - on - year. In addition, as of May this year, there were more than 700 content agencies and over one million influencers in the European and American markets of TikTok Shop. The number of active influencers in the US market also increased by 212% compared with last year.

In 2025, the mid - year promotion node of TikTok Shop began to show unusual signs. In the core US market, the platform has invested the most substantial resources since the beginning of the year, regarding it as a "crucial battle of the year". Meanwhile, the platform has also launched the largest - scale mid - year promotion (Summer Sale) since its launch in major European markets such as the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain.

On the one hand, the platform has carefully designed some "new gameplay" that directly addresses users' pain points. Users in the US market can enjoy up to a 50% discount during this mid - year promotion, and it has also launched the "price - protected live - streaming room" for the first time (enhancing user trust through the "lowest price in the whole network" label) to strongly shape the platform's perception of "good prices and good products". The establishment of this perception is crucial for attracting new users and increasing the repurchase rate.

At the same time, data shows that the topic #DealsForYouDays related to the US mid - year promotion already has over one million topic contents, with a playback volume of 1.1 billion, and the #SummerSale topic has over 965,000 contents, with a playback volume of 530 million.

In fact, the energy of TikTok Shop's content field has also been fully verified in previous promotions:

Firstly, there was explosive growth: during the Deals For You Days in the US market in 2024, the overall business on the platform exploded by 145%. Among them, the GMV in the live - streaming rooms increased by 163%, and the GMV from short videos increased by 151%. The content - driven transaction growth far exceeded the overall market. During the Summer Sale in the UK in 2024, the GMV in the live - streaming rooms even exploded by 280%, and the GMV from short videos soared by 171%.

Secondly, there were emerging benchmark cases: during the mid - year promotion in the US market in 2024, the single - live - stream GMV of the beauty brand Canvas Beauty exceeded one million US dollars, and the trendy toy giant Pop Mart achieved a single - live - stream breakthrough of over 100,000 US dollars through self - live - streaming. These cases show that in the content e - commerce ecosystem, whether relying on an influencer matrix or deeply cultivating brand self - live - streaming, substantial business growth can be achieved through high - quality content.

"Content has deeply reshaped the 'people, goods, and field'. Merchants can convert product functions into perceivable values and emotional resonances through scene - based content displays (such as the application of products in real - life scenarios, factory traceability, and professional evaluations), thus solving the 'trust conversion' problem of non - standard products (clothing, homeware) and high - price - tag products." Zheng Shuiyuan, the founder of the leading TikTok Shop agency Mronos, emphasized.

The case of a high - end homeware brand he previously operated (with an average customer price of over 800 US dollars) is a good example: through the content combination of "factory traceability live - streaming + immersive scene evaluation", users were made to "perceive the value", and during the US summer promotion, the brand's GMV increased by 40% month - on - month.

03 How to play a "combination punch" to lock in new growth possibilities?

In the stage where the promotion traffic has entered a stock game, although the content field has great potential, to convert this potential into real business growth, it is inseparable from the platform's systematic resource investment and gameplay innovation.

Yibang Power learned that during the Black Friday in 2024, the GMV of the TYMO hair - care product store in the US market of TikTok Shop directly exceeded five million US dollars. "We suggest that other sellers start arranging their content at least two months before Black Friday." Cheryle Wu, the vice - president of TYMO BEAUTY Brand, told Yibang Power.

For cross - border sellers, they need to make content arrangements in advance and also deeply understand TikTok's gameplay. Only by being familiar with the ecosystem can they really do well.

As the mid - year promotion with the strongest resource investment, TikTok Shop has also played a "combination punch" of "resources + subsidies + traffic" this year.

Firstly, the platform has tilted its resources. This mid - year promotion is the most resource - intensive marketing activity of the platform in the middle of the year. The platform has increased its all - around resource investment, offering a maximum incentive of 25,000 US dollars to cover all user touchpoints and capture users' minds.

During the event, in - app advertising at all touchpoints will be fully penetrated, from the search bar to the recommendation page, from the home page to the product detail page, comprehensively displaying event information so that no user can ignore it.

Secondly, the gameplay in the content field has been upgraded, providing more creative space for merchants. On the basis of retaining traditional advantageous projects such as core live - streaming rooms and short - video/live - streaming challenges, the US market's POP has specially launched content - featured category live - streaming rooms. Merchants in categories such as jewelry, 3C, cleaning products, and household appliances can fully utilize live - streaming content to vividly display the features, advantages, and usage scenarios of their products to the audience, enhancing users' purchasing desire. At the same time, the "crazy live week" event will last for a week to further stimulate the creative enthusiasm of merchants and influencers.

The synergy and optimization of the shelf field provide a guarantee for product conversion. The GMV of TikTok Shop's shelf field has shown strong explosive momentum and has become an important position for merchants to achieve business breakthroughs during promotions. The Flash Sale channel, as the core channel, will become an important channel for incubating and exploding hit products.

In fact, during this promotion, the platform has strengthened the channel atmosphere/labels at various entrances of the mall and other user touchpoints to ensure that users can easily browse the promotional products once they enter the mall, providing billions of exposure resources for the products. Moreover, Yibang Power also learned that the platform has increased the subsidy for merchants and upgraded the "Flash Sale direct discount" and "full - amount reduction" gameplay to further improve the conversion rate in the shelf field and bring real benefits to merchants.

Brand empowerment creates a highlight moment for brand merchants in terms of both brand image and sales performance. POP merchants in the US market can also enjoy many benefits during this promotion. In addition to a direct discount subsidy of up to 20%, they can also participate in the official full - amount reduction coupon gameplay. At the same time, the US market's POP has launched the Super Brand Day for the first time during the promotion, achieving efficient precipitation and accumulation of brand and customer assets through a series of brand events.

"An efficient content e - commerce platform can make a brand's investment 'yield visible returns'. Simply put, the efforts made by a brand on TikTok Shop, such as creating content, collaborating with influencers, and interacting with users, can ultimately be converted into real results." For brand merchants like TYMO, TikTok Shop is far more than just a channel for selling products during promotions. It is more like a "brand energy charging station": the accumulated brand potential will ultimately feed back into new product testing, user awareness improvement, offline event promotion, and omnichannel layout.

TikTok Shop's mid - year promotion this time can be said to be a "surprise attack" on traditional e - commerce at a key node, relying on the ecological advantages of its "content field". Its ecological explosive power, innovative gameplay, and emphasis on the multi - dimensional value for merchants are also reshaping the e - commerce competition rules and the new growth path for merchants.

Whether it is to cope with the mid - year business peak, seize market opportunities, or based on long - term strategic planning, for cross - border merchants, winning this crucial mid - year promotion battle is a must.

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This article is from the WeChat official account "Yibang Power". Author: Miao Yue. Republished with permission.