TikTok Launches Automated Ad Campaign Creation for UK Retailers

TikTok’s launched the next stage of its in-app shopping push in the U.K., with a new offering called “GMV Max”, which utilizes AI to optimize your product listings in the app.

As explained by TikTok:

“Available for products and LIVE shopping sessions on TikTok Shop, Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) Max automates campaign creation, including audience targeting, bidding and creative selection, to optimize campaign performance by seamlessly identifying and scaling high-performing assets for sellers on the platform.”

Essentially, GMV Max will handle your product advertising process, by sourcing assets, creating ad campaigns, and optimizing for sales “with incremental GMV that would not otherwise be attainable, in order to keep GMV to ad spend ratio stable.”

It’s an end-to-end ad creation system, which aims to make it easier than ever for brands to list their products in the app, and maximize sales to TikTok users.

And the opportunity for such is rising.

According to TikTok, TikTok Shop now has more than 200,000 active small businesses in the U.K., and is used for more than 6,000 LIVE shopping sessions every day.

In-stream shopping is TikTok’s big monetization focus, after it saw huge success with the same in the Chinese market. And while Western audiences haven’t been as open to such as yet, there are some emerging positive signs, which is why GMV Max could be a valuable lure for U.K. brands.

Indeed, TikTok’s now the second-largest online beauty and wellness retailer in the U.K., and in combination with its popularity and broader online spending trends, it may well be worth more businesses exploring the potential of TikTok promotions for their products.

And if TikTok can get more people buying in-stream, that’ll be a big boost for its broader business efforts. For comparison, in China, in-app sales in the local version of the app (Douyin) now top $500 billion per year. TikTok generated $3.8 billion in sales in 2023.

The opportunity, then, is massive, and TikTok just needs to cross that key threshold of adoption to boost that momentum.

GMV Max could be another step in that direction.