Notino, one of the largest cosmetics marketplaces in DACH, has its own entity and fulfilment in Germany, the infrastructure that TikTok Shop requires for entry. After a year in Germany, TikTok Shop holds 15th place among online retailers there, reaches 15% of German online shoppers and attracts 27 million active users of the app each month. At the same time, it raised its commission from 5% to 9% and raised the entry cost for new sellers by four percentage points. Sebastian Nelson, founder of California-based Cruva and the quiet architect of the move of US and UK sellers onto the platform, published on LinkedIn this week that the same playbook is coming to DACH. Those who establish themselves by the end of summer 2026 pay a lower price.
A year on, TikTok Shop is 15th in Germany
TikTok Shop launched in Germany, France and Italy on 31 March 2025. The German operation is headed by Maximilian Burianek, and at launch the platform had 24.2 million monthly users in the country, with partners such as ABOUT YOU, cosnova (essence, Catrice), NIVEA and Deiters, plus smaller sellers such as Miralina's Halal Sweets. According to ecommercegermany.com, during the launch phase TikTok opened 11 positions in Munich, 6 in Paris and 4 in Milan.
According to TikTok itself, more than 25,000 merchants sell on the platform in Germany, daily seller revenue has almost doubled in six months, and shoppable videos and livestreams make up roughly 60% of an average seller’s revenue. According to NielsenIQ data, cited by WORLDEF in April 2026, TikTok Shop holds 15th place among online retailers in Germany. Fifteen percent of German online shoppers have bought on the platform, compared with 10.5% six months after launch. Those who buy on TikTok Shop spend €2,564 a year online overall. Those who do not spend €1,939. A gap of 32%. An active customer buys roughly every eight days, with an average basket of €56.50.
The category mix in Germany differs from the US and UK. According to E-Commerce Institute Cologne data, fashion accounts for the first 17% of sales, electronics for 16%, and home and household for 14%. In the US, beauty and personal care make up roughly 22% of the entire platform, while in the UK TikTok Shop is already the fourth-largest beauty retailer, with category growth of 60%. The German launch is more distributed. It is carried by fashion, electronics and home.
The 47 to 66 age group generates 37% of German TikTok Shop sales, more than Gen Z. The generational split of buyers is 33% Gen Z, 33% Gen X, and the rest in between.
What happened in the US and UK
TikTok Shop generated $33.2 billion in GMV globally in 2024. Of that, $9 billion came from the US, where growth was 407% year on year. According to Momentum Works × Tabcut, TikTok Shop in the US crossed the $1 billion monthly GMV mark in November and December 2024, then in every month from March to June 2025.
The first half of 2025 in the US brought $5.8 billion, growth of more than 100% year on year. The annual projection is $15.82 billion. Beauty leads the categories with $2.49 billion in GMV, and creator-driven sales made up $5.4 billion, roughly 60% of the platform. The affiliate programme has more than 100,000 creators.
The UK was the pilot for the European playbook. By the end of 2024, UK TikTok Shop had 200,000 active sellers (doubling year on year), 131% growth in buyers and 180% growth in sales. Six thousand livestreams a day. GMV of $1.5 billion, 146 million units sold and 72,000 shops. Black Friday 2024 became the highest single-day turnover in the history of UK TikTok Shop, with 27 items sold every second.
The mechanics were the same in both markets. The platform launched with a low 5% commission, massive incentives for the first few thousand sellers and aggressive creator affiliate recruiting. Categories with the highest conversion-rate properties for short videos (beauty, lifestyle, gadgets) scaled faster than the rest. Once the platform settled in, commissions went up. In the UK in September 2024, from 5% to 9%, and in the EU the same step is planned from 8 January 2026.
In Germany, commission was 5% for the first nine months. From 8 January 2026 it is 9%. For electronics and selected subcategories, 7%. For new sellers after 8 January there are short-term incentives: 4% for 60 days, if they upload five products within 15 days. Nelson talks on LinkedIn about a “window” that closes when the average margin shifts four percentage points lower.
Brightform and the economics of partner agencies
The main role is now taken by a certified TikTok Shop Partner, that is, an agency that manages brands, produces content and runs a network of creators. Brightform, an agency with a LIVE studio in Munich, received the EU Agency of the Year 2025 title at FastMoss FGVCon in China in January 2026, and according to its own data finished Q4 as #1 TikTok Shop Partner in Germany by GMV. Brightform reports 200 million+ video views across its portfolio and 130,000 active creators in activated campaigns. Three certifications at once: TikTok Shop Affiliates Partner, Short Video Partner and Ad Partner.
For a brand that wants to enter DACH, the situation is different from a year ago. The nine-month phase with a 5% commission has ended, and from January 2026 9% applies. Brands that did not manage to establish themselves in the first twelve months enter the market with a lower commission only after completing the new-seller mission, and against competitors who already have content production and a creator pool in place.
Cruva, Nelson’s California-based SaaS platform (originally UPTK), according to a press release on its October 2025 rebrand, scales more than 400 brands on a combined $10 million of monthly TikTok Shop GMV, and since its founding has generated more than $47 million in GMV.
Categories, livestreams, creator pool
In DACH, category, livestream and creator pool decide. Let us start with categories. The German mix (fashion 17%, electronics 16%, home 14%) shows that beauty is not the low-hanging fruit it is in the UK and US. Entry through fashion, gadgets and home requires a lower affiliate cost per sale and a higher volume per video. Brands with a high AOV (fashion above €60, electronics above €100) cannot copy the American beauty-livestream templates, where the purchase decision falls within a minute.
Livestream. The livestream conversion rate in Germany is 9 to 30%, against 2 to 3% for classic e-commerce, and a return rate that is 40% lower. That makes livestreaming a marginal arbitrage that a classic D2C website will not catch up with. Brightform has that capacity, most German brands do not. Two or three streams a week, authenticity over production values, exclusive prices for the stream. A playbook taken from the UK and calibrated for DACH.
Creator pool. Brightform reports 130,000 active creators, and TikTok Shop Germany is building its own affiliate programme. As soon as every certified partner agency starts competing for the same few thousand German-speaking creators with real conversion-driving power, exclusivity prices will shoot up. A brand without a signed affiliate strategy by the end of summer 2026 will pay over the odds.
What it means for Czech and Slovak brands
DACH includes Austria and Switzerland. Austrian shoppers already have access to TikTok Shop, while Switzerland does not yet. Three of the biggest Czech e-commerce names, Alza in Germany and Austria, Rohlík through its Knuspr brand in Munich and Berlin, and Notino, one of the largest cosmetics marketplaces in DACH, all have their own entity and fulfilment in Germany, that is, the infrastructure TikTok Shop requires for entry. Czech and Slovak brands that sell into Germany or Austria and have a portfolio in fashion, cosmetics, gadgets or home & living face a strategic decision by the end of summer 2026. Enter now, while the market is still forming and the creator pool is available, or later on worse terms against established partner agencies.
A third European wave (Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden) is on its way sometime in 2026, while Czechia and Slovakia are not yet in the plans. Anyone wanting into the TikTok Shop ecosystem in the foreseeable future goes through Germany. The 9% commission since January pushed the entry cost up by four percentage points. The next step up will come once the platform reaches UK volume. For a brand with a 30% margin, this means the difference between a profitable SKU and a break-even SKU across the whole catalogue.
The platform sets the rules, the creator economy grows on them, and margin is shifting from the seller to the partner agency.
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