TikTok Shop was launched in France at the end of March, and since then the marketplace has grown from featuring 5,000 sellers to approximately 16,500 at the end of September. TikTok is usually cagey about figures, but the information was provided by Arnaud Cabanis, the platform’s head of France and southern Europe, at the Tech for Retail trade show held in Paris on November 24-25.

Cabanis spoke on the event’s second day, following a very busy opening day, according to the exhibitors interviewed by FashionNetwork.com. The event showcased 415 exhibitors this year, more than in the last edition.

Cabanis touted the advantages offered to retailers by the Chinese social commerce platform, which is said to currently have 27.8 million users in France, and to have attracted fashion accessories brands like Cabaïa and Izipizi, and cosmetics brands like Respire, For.Me, Kerargan and l’Atelier du Sourcil. “Gen Z consumers [13 to 28-year-olds] are said to number approximately 9 million in France, and we think we’re reaching all of them,” said Cabanis, underlining they are a highly connected clientèle, and one that is above all “extremely demanding” when it comes to brands. “People aren’t on TikTok to watch brand content. Our social graph is driven by content, not by users,” he added.

On this, Cabanis sounded a warning to his audience, saying that influencers are seemingly becoming less relevant. “Nowadays, nearly two thirds of French people say they’re watching content by influencers they aren’t following, on platforms like TikTok”, he said.

Since brand content and influencer marketing are really no longer relevant on TikTok, Cabanis advocated a shift towards user-generated content. Brands can showcase content promoting their products that is generated by third parties. A practice that, since it is possible to detect whether specific content is brand-disseminated, is pushing many content creators to vie for originality.

A marketing manna that TikTok Shop has been tapping in France since April. “This has been the key to monetising pre-existing product content,” said Cabanis. He reminded his audience that shopping on social media, long predicted and expected, is now well established. “Four out of five Gen Z users are now buying directly through social commerce,” he said.

A phenomenon that is benefiting another commercial practice which seems to have taken longer than expected to become mainstream in Europe, that of live-shopping sessions. “TikTok Shop now enables us to overlay these sessions on the corresponding shopping page,” said Cabanis, indicating that 860 daily sessions are currently being scheduled in continental Europe, generating 18% of TikTok Shop’s revenue in the region.

TikTok Shop, where beauty and fashion unsurprisingly predominate – ahead of other consumer products, household goods and electronics – is said to have tripled its revenue in France since it was launched, according to internal estimates, though TikTok did not disclose any official data.