TikTok Shop’s Performance in Europe: Where the Platform Is Headed in 2026
TikTok Shop is expanding across Europe, but how much of an impact is it really making? From surprising shopper demographics in Germany to the dominance of shoppable videos, discover what the latest ECDB data reveals about the platform’s growth, consumer behavior, and its potential to reshape European e-commerce. (Ad)
By Nadine Koutsou-Wehling, Data Journalist
TikTok Shop stands out among e-commerce retailers because it didn’t start out as one. When one hears TikTok, one typically thinks of short-form videos with people dancing or discussing topics of interest.
Over time, TikTok grew beyond pure entertainment to encompass shopping opportunities as well. The concept first launched in China through Douyin, TikTok’s sister app. Southeast Asia followed under the TikTok Shop name, and the platform reached Europe in 2021. Today, TikTok Shop is a global marketplace connecting millions of shoppers with sellers worldwide.
Zooming in on Europe, how far has TikTok Shop come on the continent and where is it headed? ECDB took a closer look at its performance. Here is what the data shows.
For more data on the region, ECDB’s report on e-commerce in Europe in 2026 has the full picture.
TikTok Shop Entered Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland and Austria in 2026
TikTok Shop first launched in the United Kingdom in 2021, followed by Ireland and Spain in late 2024. In 2025, TikTok Shop launched in France, Germany and Italy. The platform entered continental Europe quite late, hindered by a reportedly slow start in the UK.
According to reports, TikTok Shop had planned to launch in Spain, France, Germany and Italy in the first half of 2022. But those plans were dropped after the UK service missed its targets and influencers left the program.
TikTok Shop later disputed these claims, saying it had never planned a 2022 launch in continental Europe and was focused on getting the UK offering right. Nevertheless, the launches followed in 2025, and in 2026 additional markets entered the mix.
On June 15, 2026, TikTok Shop launched in four markets in continental Europe: Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland and Austria.
The recent launches should make Europe a bigger part of TikTok Shop’s business. So far, the region has played only a minor role.
European Markets Account for 7% of GMV in 2025
Overall, TikTok Shop is projected to reach €106.0 billion GMV in 2026. But the biggest part of it doesn’t come from Europe. In 2025, only 7% of total GMV came from the continent. TikTok Shop’s most important single market remains the United States, followed by Indonesia.
Over the years, TikTok Shop grew rapidly. First-year GMV came in under €1 billion. Four years later, the platform reached €57.1 billion. From 2025 to 2026, growth is expected to reach 86%. The new launches certainly play a role in this development.
But even though TikTok Shop now operates in a substantial number of European markets, Europe’s GMV share falls behind Southeast Asia (69%) and the United States (22%). Several factors account for this.
The first is time: TikTok Shop launched first in Southeast Asia, so it had more time to establish itself. The second is structure. Southeast Asian e-commerce is marketplace-led and was largely dominated by Shopee and Lazada when TikTok emerged to take share from incumbents. That is where the third factor comes in: culture. Shoppable videos and livestream shopping work particularly well in the region, driven by a young, mobile-first population that spends hours on social media every day.
These factors differ notably across Europe, which makes it difficult to predict TikTok Shop’s fate in the region.
The United Kingdom Is TikTok Shop’s Most Important European Market
So far, the numbers are clear: the United Kingdom is TikTok Shop’s largest European revenue source, with €2.63 billion in 2025 and a projected €4.89 billion in 2026.
Other markets follow further behind. The UK owes its lead to timing. It was TikTok Shop’s first European market. Overall, Europe generated €4.07 billion in GMV in 2025, and the markets outside the UK account for only about one third of it.
Despite this, growth projections still point upward. The new markets that joined in 2026 contribute to that, and every existing market is growing quickly as well.
Shoppable Videos Generate the Highest GMV in Europe
What works on TikTok Shop in Europe? The data is clear: Shoppable videos account for almost two out of every three euros spent on the platform. More precisely, videos generate 64% of GMV across Germany, France, Italy and Spain.
German shoppers favor videos most, and livestreams play only a small role there. Overall, livestreams account for 17% of GMV across the four markets. Product cards outpace them by 2 percentage points.
This is not the case in every market. In France and Italy, livestreams generate higher revenues than product cards. Spain follows Germany, with product cards ahead of livestreams.
Product cards are like storefronts on TikTok, where shoppers can buy products outside of videos or livestreams. They function like a traditional e-commerce product page, with fewest social commerce features. But because most users visit TikTok primarily for entertainment, they rarely search for anything to buy directly, which puts product cards at a disadvantage.
Still, in some European markets they perform better than livestreams. Livestream shopping took off in Asian e-commerce and has yet to gain a foothold in Europe.
Shopper Demographics: German Shoppers Skew Older and More Discount-Driven Than in the UK
Who buys on TikTok Shop? In the UK and Germany, the answer starts out the same. The largest group of buyers is 30 to 39 years old and earns a middle income.
Beyond that shared core, the two markets differ in important ways. Germany’s TikTok Shop audience is older, and its income profile is more spread out.
In Germany, 46% of TikTok Shop buyers are 40 or older. In the UK, that share is 35%.
The 11-percentage-point gap in buyers aged 40+ runs against the platform’s image. TikTok is widely seen as an app for younger users. In Germany, almost half of the people who buy through its shop belong to the older age groups.
When it comes to income, middle-income shoppers form the core of TikTok Shop in both markets. They make up 62% of buyers in the UK and 56% in Germany.
Germany’s remaining buyers spread further toward the edges. 28% of German TikTok Shop buyers belong to the low-income group, and 16% to the high-income group. In the UK, these shares are 24% and 14%.
A concentrated middle points to a platform that has reached the mainstream. Four years after launch, TikTok Shop in the UK draws most of its buyers from the broad center of the market.
In contrast, TikTok Shop launched in Germany in March 2025, four years after the UK. The platform is still building its German audience. At launch, TikTok Shop leaned heavily on discounted products in Germany. Low prices draw deal seekers first. The income data reflects that: at 28%, Germany’s low-income share sits above the UK’s 24%.
Wrap-Up: A Social Commerce Platform Breaks Into Europe
TikTok Shop combines product discovery with in-app purchases. It launched in Europe in 2021, starting with the UK. Since then, TikTok Shop has launched in nine more European markets, in four of them in June 2026.
Timing matters. The UK remains TikTok Shop’s most significant European market. Two out of three euros of TikTok Shop’s European GMV are made in Britain.
But consumer preferences are also distinct on the continent: Shoppable videos generate the most GMV, ahead of product cards and livestreams. A video keeps surfacing in feeds long after it is posted. A livestream ends when the host signs off.
30- to 39-year-olds form the largest buyer group on TikTok Shop in both Germany and the UK, though the two markets differ beyond that core. With its earlier launch, the UK draws a more concentrated middle-income audience. Germany, which launched in 2025, still skews older and more discount-driven.
Overall, Europe is still an early-stage market for TikTok Shop. The UK shows what a head start can build: €4.89 billion in GMV expected in 2026. The rest of the continent sits at the beginning of that curve.
