TikTok is planning a new program called Project Horizon that aims to attract established brands to sell on TikTok Shop. The program incentivizes 100 e-commerce agencies to each recruit dozens of brands that already have at least $10M in annual sales on other platforms like Amazon and Shopify, according to The Information sources.
Each participating agency will be rewarded by TikTok with a cut of sales if it recruits at least 30 brands, and if the recruited brands' sales on the platform collectively reach $50M by the end of 2026.
LOL, that'll be a “no” from me TikTok. (Not that my agency was even invited to participate.)
Why are the stakes so high? Hypothetically, an agency could recruit 40 brands, which only collectively reach $45M by year's end, and the agency gets nothing? That feels like a lot of upside for TikTok and very little incentive for the agencies who aren't 100% sure they can hit that threshold in such a short period of time. (One year is not a long time when it comes to developing a new sales channel for an established brand, let alone 30 of them.)
Every $10M brand counts, and if I were TikTok, I would've structured that referral program to reward the agencies for all referred brands that exceed a certain sales threshold.
Then again, what did anyone expect? In my experience, the referral programs I've been offered by major e-commerce marketplaces and ad networks (no names mentioned) have historically been horrendously one-sided in the platform's favor, to the point that I wouldn't even participate in them.
Agencies are particularly a tough sell for these type of referral programs. Our priorities lie with providing clients with the best guidance and services possible, and a great agency can't be swung by referral commissions. I've personally never joined a referral program exclusively for the commission, and I know that to be true of other agency owners too. I've only joined referral programs of services I already actively recommended to my clients because they were the best solution, as to add a little icing on the cake to my recommendation, not as a primary revenue driver.
I guess at the end of the day though, brands are going to continue to join TikTok Shop regardless of whether or not an agency pushes them to do so.
Lastly in other TikTok Shop news this week… TikTok introduced the “Off-Site Performance Analysis” tool to measure sales occurring on external websites after users view in-app content. The feature utilizes pixel tracking to link organic posts, live videos, and ads to purchases made on brand sites up to 30 days later. This move aims to quantify indirect revenue and address advertiser concerns regarding the platform's “walled garden” attribution ecosystem.
