Lately, a lot of people have been jumping into the TikTok European market. But here’s the thing I’ve noticed: many of them don’t even have a clear money-making model before diving in. And if you don’t know how you’re going to make money, it’s really hard to see results.
The first question you should ask before entering any market is simple:
How exactly am I going to make money?
Do I have access to local suppliers? Or do I have super strong content skills?
—Actually, neither of those is the real point.
Because Europe and the U.S. follow completely different money-making logics.
01 – Europe: Still in the “Product First” 1.0 Stage
Most players in the TikTok Europe space right now don’t really get content. They don’t know how to sell products through short videos to the right audience.
Instead, everyone’s doing the same thing:
- You find influencers? I find influencers too.
- You open a store and sell through product cards? Same here.
- You run ads? Yup, I can do that too.
To be blunt, there’s basically no difference between sellers in terms of traffic sources or how they get sales. And content skills? Pretty much all on the same beginner level.
┃ Most sellers are just making “basic product demos.” Some can’t even get that right.
So what’s the real deciding factor right now?
—The product itself.
Because in a new market, the consumer base is still limited. Some products will sell, some just won’t. If you pick the right one, you win.
That’s why my biggest advice for Europe is: focus on product testing.
You can even reuse the U.S. product-picking strategy from early 2023. Europe is at the same stage now. Consumer demand is still basic—just find products that locals like, price them right, and test in bulk. If one fails, move on to the next. Getting the right product means catching the early-market wave.
This is the most realistic way to make money in TikTok Europe right now.
02 – U.S.: Already in the “Content First” 2.0 Stage
The U.S. market is way past the stage of “pick the right product and it’ll sell.” What matters now is whether your content can break through.
Here’s what often happens:
Seller A works with an influencer, makes a few hundred or maybe a thousand sales—but it doesn’t blow up.
Then Seller B comes in, creates their own content, and boom—the product goes viral.
┃ Same product, different outcome. Why? Because Seller B understood content better and knew how to keep pulling in buyers through short videos.
That’s why being the first to find a product doesn’t matter anymore in the U.S. Even if you do, without content skills, you won’t sell. Sure, you might get lucky and move a few units, but competitors copy insanely fast in the U.S. As soon as a product shows potential, you’ll see multiple sellers jump in within days.
But with strong content skills, even if you’re late to the game, you can still blow up a product. How?
- Find new selling points that open up fresh customer groups.
- Switch up your “first 3 seconds” to expand your traffic pool.
- Use new content templates, refine the lighting, pacing, and setups so they feel native to TikTok, and drive up purchase intent.
In the U.S., having a smart content strategy massively boosts your chance of creating a viral product. And executing content well means stable traffic, which equals stable sales.
So in the U.S., the real competition has already shifted from “picking products” to making content work. Many products don’t fail because they can’t sell—they fail because you can’t sell them.
03 – TikTok Only Has Two Global Playbooks
- New TikTok Shop markets rely on product-picking, like Japan and Europe.
- Mature markets always turn into content battles, like Southeast Asia and the U.S.
So if you really want to make money, the key is to clearly understand what stage the market is in. Only then can you aim in the right direction—and avoid wasting time going down the wrong path.
