TikTok Shop Europe: Videos Win as the Most Profitable Format on the Platform

One format outsells all others on TikTok Shop. Across Germany, France, Italy and Spain, videos account for 64% of the GMV the platform generates. Livestreams and product cards share the rest.

The reason lies in how people use the app. The split between the four markets adds a second layer: Germany behaves differently from the other three, and live shopping is catching on more slowly than its reputation suggests.

Video Sells Long After It Is Posted

Each of TikTok Shop's three sales formats has a different shelf life. A video keeps selling long after it gets posted. The algorithm can push it into new feeds at any point, and every new viewer is a new chance to buy.

A livestream ends when the host signs off. Its sales window is fixed to the minutes or hours it runs, and shoppers have to be watching at that moment to buy.

Product cards follow a separate logic entirely. They work like classic online shop pages, with an image, a price, and a buy button. That model depends on shoppers who arrive looking for a product. Most TikTok users open the app to watch content and rarely search for anything to buy.

Videos fit that behavior best. They combine entertainment with product discovery, so a purchase happens inside the content people came for in the first place.

Germany and the Other Markets Form Two Clusters

The national figures split the four markets into two groups. Germany sits on one side. France, Italy and Spain sit on the other.

Germany leans hardest on video, which generates 69.3% of TikTok Shop's GMV there. France, Italy and Spain rely on video as well, though to a lesser degree. Live shopping takes up much of the difference.

In Germany, the formats that win are the ones shoppers can use on their own schedule. German online shoppers are known for research-heavy, considered purchases and a preference for familiar checkout routines. A video they can rewatch, pause, and return to suits that habit better than a live sales event with a countdown.

Live Shopping Is Slow to Break Through in Europe

Live shopping is where the two clusters differ most. In France, Italy and Spain, livestreams account for around 20% of TikTok Shop's GMV. In Germany, the share drops to 13%.

The format comes from Asia, where it already drives a large part of social commerce. Its breakthrough in Europe has been expected for years. Some markets are adopting it more slowly than others.

In Spain and Germany, even product cards generate a higher share of GMV than livestreams. The format closest to a classic online shop outsells the one built around real-time interaction. For now, a static product page with a buy button is the more familiar route to purchase for shoppers in both markets.

Wrap-Up: European Shoppers Prefer Shoppable Videos Over Livestreams

Across all four markets, video is the format that sells. It reaches shoppers inside the content they came for and stays available whenever they are ready to buy.

This doesn't mean that livestreams are insignificant, but they contribute much less to total GMV than videos. In France, Italy and Spain, live shopping has a firmer foothold and can add a meaningful share of sales on top. Spain stands out as a mixed case, with livestreams successful by regional standards and product cards still ahead of them.

For now, livestream shopping remains second-to-third best to shoppable videos. Whether the trend from Asia will ever take hold in the same manner, is questionable.