$20,000 in Sales on TikTok! Expert Tips on How to Sell on TikTok Shop
Summary
TLDRIn this interview, April Duplantis, a successful Etsy seller, shares her journey of transitioning to TikTok Shop. After losing her Facebook-based business, she discovered print-on-demand (POD) through YouTube and quickly found success on Etsy. Encouraged by her PR advisor, she expanded to TikTok Shop and saw immediate results, with sales rapidly increasing. April emphasizes the importance of consistency, research, and leveraging trending designs. She also offers practical advice for those new to TikTok Shop, highlighting that sales can be made even without posting videos.
Takeaways
- 🌟 April Duplantis successfully transitioned from Etsy to TikTok Shop.
- 🌞 April is a stay-at-home mom from Texas who began her POD journey after losing her Facebook account.
- 📈 Within her first year on POD, April saw significant success by adapting her business model.
- 🎯 April's strategy involves targeting trending niches and not reinventing the wheel.
- 👕 On TikTok Shop, she primarily sells trending women's t-shirts and avoids personalized items.
- 📊 April averages 30-35 sales per day, recently reaching over 60 sales daily.
- 💡 She emphasizes the importance of consistent posting, adding at least three new products daily.
- 🎥 For TikTok, April posts a minimum of two videos per day, aiming to build her follower base.
- 🚀 April notes that TikTok Shop sales can happen without posting videos, but videos help increase visibility.
- 📚 Her advice for newcomers includes understanding TikTok violations and leveraging YouTube for research and guidance.
Q & A
Who is the guest in the interview, and what is her expertise?
-The guest is April Duplantis, a successful Etsy seller who has transitioned to TikTok Shop.
What major challenge did April face with her previous business?
-April's Facebook account was permanently shut down due to violations, resulting in a significant loss of traffic and sales for her Children's Boutique.
How did April discover Print on Demand (POD) and decide to switch her business model?
-April discovered POD through a YouTube search and a video by Cassie Johnson, which explained the concept. She saw the potential and decided to switch her business model to POD.
What was April's initial success on Etsy after switching to POD?
-April achieved significant sales on Etsy, leveraging the concept of personalization and following Stephen Chin's advice, which led to $50,000 in sales by her second month.
Why did April decide to expand her business to TikTok Shop?
-After successfully navigating through a year on Etsy, April decided to try TikTok Shop as she had more free time and saw potential in the platform.
What is April's strategy for product listing on TikTok Shop?
-April lists a minimum of three products daily on TikTok Shop, aiming to show consistency and seriousness in her business.
What types of products does April focus on selling on TikTok Shop?
-April focuses on trending women's niches, primarily selling t-shirts without personalization on TikTok Shop.
How many sales does April average on TikTok Shop, and how has this changed recently?
-April initially averaged 30-35 sales per day, which recently increased to over 60 sales per day, reaching 78 sales in one day.
What has surprised April about the TikTok Shop seller experience?
-April was surprised to find that sales can occur without posting videos, as the TikTok Shop itself pushes out product cards in its search engine.
What advice does April offer for those looking to start selling on TikTok Shop?
-April advises new sellers to research TikTok violations to avoid account issues, use YouTube for instructional videos, and focus on selling what is already popular on the platform.
Outlines
🎉 Guest Introduction and Trivia
The host introduces the guest, April Duplantis, a successful Etsy seller who transitioned to TikTok Shop. The host asks a TikTok-related trivia question, which April answers incorrectly. They discuss her excitement to be on the show and her background.
📉 Overcoming Setbacks and Starting on POD
April shares her journey of losing her Facebook-driven business due to a permanent account shutdown. She discovered Print on Demand (POD) through YouTube and started a new business on Etsy. She describes her intensive research and dedication to learning about POD and how she quickly transitioned to this new business model.
📈 Transition to TikTok Shop
April discusses her initial reluctance to join TikTok Shop but eventually did after encouragement from her advisor. She explains her strategy of researching trending products on TikTok, mirroring successful designs from Etsy, and her quick success on the platform with t-shirt sales.
🔢 Product and Video Posting Strategy
April shares her disciplined approach to maintaining a consistent presence on both Etsy and TikTok Shop. She aims to list a minimum of three products daily and posts at least two videos a day. She emphasizes the importance of consistency for platform algorithms.
📊 Sales and Posting Frequency
April provides specific numbers on her sales performance, highlighting a significant increase in daily sales and her expectations for future growth. She explains how posting videos helps boost visibility and sales, even though a significant portion of her sales comes from the TikTok Shop's search functionality.
💡 Tips for New Sellers
April offers advice for newcomers to TikTok Shop, emphasizing the importance of understanding platform violations and creating original content. She advises doing thorough research on popular items and focusing on replicating successful designs with unique improvements.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Etsy
💡TikTok Shop
💡Print on Demand (POD)
💡Trending Designs
💡Consistency
💡Keyword Research
💡Competitor Research
💡Original Content
💡Return Policy
💡Product Cards
Highlights
April Duplantis transitioned from being a successful Etsy seller to finding success on TikTok Shop.
April is a stay-at-home mom from Texas who works from home and started her Print on Demand (POD) journey after losing her Facebook account.
She shifted from a Children's Boutique online store with a focus on Drop Shipping to POD on Etsy after a Facebook shutdown in March 2023.
April learned about POD from YouTube, specifically a video by Cassie Johnson, which she described as life-changing.
Her strategy involves not reinventing the wheel but rather researching and replicating trending designs on both Etsy and TikTok Shop.
April began her TikTok Shop journey a few months ago and saw her first sale the day after opening her shop.
She targets women, specifically moms, and focuses on trending niches without personalization on TikTok.
April's daily routine includes posting a minimum of three new products on TikTok Shop and two videos.
Her sales on TikTok Shop have grown from 30-35 sales a day to over 60, with a recent peak of 78 sales in a day.
She emphasizes the importance of consistency in posting new products to show seriousness to the platform.
April has found that sales can be made on TikTok Shop even without posting videos, as product cards are pushed out by TikTok's search engine.
Her approach to TikTok Shop SEO involves using straightforward, varied keywords without overthinking.
She has never gone live on TikTok but is planning to, acknowledging the potential benefits.
April advises new sellers to research TikTok violations first to avoid shutdowns and to leverage YouTube tutorials.
Despite being new to TikTok, she has achieved impressive sales and encourages others to start their TikTok Shop without hesitation.
Transcripts
we have got ourselves a stellar guest
okay our guest is April Duplantis she is
a successful Etsy seller who has made
the successful transition over to Tik
Tock shop and she's coming on to share
her wisdom some tips and tricks so you
two can uh can can learn a little bit
more about how to find success on Tik
Tock shop April how are you doing
today hi I'm good I'm excited to be here
thank you wonderful well thank you for
taking time out of your day out of out
of that scorching Texas heat to join us
and our audience today um but uh to
break the ice a little bit here April
I'm going to ask you a little trivia
question okay and it's going to be tick
Tik Tock related um first of all are you
ready I think so excellent and you folks
and you folks out there can play along
type in the answer into the chat as uh
as you see fit okay so the question is
who has the most followers on Tik Tok is
it kabi lame Charlie demilio Bella porch
or Mr
Beast
okay I'm gonna go with I know that three
of those are definitely in the top three
I I am gonna
say Charlie demilio oh so close
Charlie's number two the correct answer
is kabi L he's got like 162 million
followers and folks if you if you
haven't had the chance do yourself a
favor and check it out uh he is he's
hilarious okay um all right wonderful
well you are forgiven you get bonus
points at least for coming in second
place so no harm no foul April well
let's uh let's dive a little bit in into
your story here first of all why don't
you tell us a little bit about yourself
your journey through uh your journey
into uh P pod and then how you f found
success on Etsy
um okay so I actually started um well
about myself my name is April duplis I
from Texas I am 40 years old I am a
stay-at-home mom um and I work from home
and so this is kind of how I started
with pod um this is actually my one year
on pod I just celebrated my one year in
May um and so last March I before pod I
had a Children's Boutique online where I
was Drop Shipping
um from some vendors inside the United
States and I um I had a website through
Shopify which I love Shopify um and um
you know kind the problem with having
your own website is driving your own
traffic to these websites and I I solely
used Facebook to drive my traffic to my
website long story short I got some
violations on Facebook in March of 2023
last year first ever violations never
had a violation before in my decade on
there and they shut down my Facebook
permanently um and so yeah I was told
that it was an accident and that it
should have been a temporary suspension
but they permanently shut it down and
they said that they couldn't go back um
what's done is done and they advised me
to start a new Facebook which at the
time was devastating now I'm super
grateful that this happened to me um but
so that day I essentially lost my job I
um I went from making good sales every
day with my business to zero sales and I
lost my I I completely lost my income
that day which was a really big blow for
my family because we're a dual income
household like most people are um and so
you know I talked to my husband and we
were like we've got about a month to
figure out something to do um or I'm GNA
have to go work outside the home um and
so I was on YouTube I was researching
how to drive some traffic to my Shopify
store I was watching a video by Hannah
Gardner and she kept saying pod it was
like the third time she said pod and I'm
like what is POD um so I open another
little window and I'm like what is POD
um on YouTube and I always say this is
like the YouTube search that changed my
life um and a video came up by Cassie
Johnson and she explained to me what pod
was well just explained in General on
this video what pod was and like I think
there were like dollar signs in my eyes
like when she was explaining this
because I could immediately see the
potential of being able to have this
much inventory this deep and this wide
without putting any money into it and
and purchasing this inventory and and
overhead and stuff like that and so I
decided that day in um May of last year
that I was going to stop my business and
start my pod journey I absorbed all of
the information that I could off of
YouTube I watched every video that I
could find of everyone telling me how to
do pod and and how to get on Etsy and
and just just everything there's so many
good videos and I was just that day I I
shut down my other business I cried a
little bit and then I was 150% in on on
pod and I worked just nonstop for that
first month just listing and researching
on what to do for pod and that is how I
got started on print on demand okay wow
well it's really a story of perseverance
where most people probably would have
given up after after that big blow from
from Facebook but not you you rolled
with the punches one door closed another
door opened and here you are so you had
success on Etsy what made you make the
transition to Tik Talk
Shop um yes so well I really kind of
avoided Tik Tok for a little while um
Andre my like PR ofi adviser kept
telling me like you should get on Tik
Tok you should get on Tik Tok and I'm
like oh I don't want to I don't want to
post and you know I'm I was I'm doing
really well on Etsy um and so I don't
know I kind of freed up some time just
just recently I've only been on Tik Tok
for a couple of months now um and so I I
kind of freed up some time after I got
through one year of experiencing every
quarter on Etsy because I needed to
design new listings for every quarter
last year um and so after I got through
all four quarters I I had a little bit
of free time because I had designs going
into the next quarter and so I was like
I'll try Tik Tock shop um and I did it
was very easy to start it was just like
Etsy the the research that goes into it
is just the same as you do on Etsy um
you know my motto with Etsy and with Tik
Tok shop is to not reinvent the wheel um
do not do not just try to come up with
designs that you want to sell see what's
selling um go to Tik Tok shop see what
has sold thousands of items you know if
I'm selling T-shirts what's what are
people buying in the t-shirts and then
make that same with Etsy make what
people are already buying and that's
exactly what I did with Tik Tok and I my
first Tik Tok sale was the day after I
opened my Tik talk
shop so I mean my goodness it went very
well okay so basically you took your
already successful business model you
had built on Etsy transferred that one
to one over to Tik Tok shop and got
rolling immediately I really like that I
really like that story um and just a
quick reminder to you folks out there
we're going to have a a uh a Q&A session
as soon as we're done with this
interview portion so if you got those
questions pop those into the chat right
now and April and I will be happy to
address those at the end okay so great
so now you're on Tik Tok shop let's talk
a little bit about about what it is you
do on Tik Tok shop so what Niche have
you targeted is it the same Niche that
you were targeting on Etsy what products
are you selling can you take us through
that yeah it is the same niches that I
um targeted on Etsy um it's a it is a
little bit different because on Etsy I
um I go more towards personalization on
Etsy um but do Target women um moms
women niches um that kind of deal but
and on on Tik Tok I Target the exact
same thing but I don't do any
personalized items on Tik Tok so you
know anything that's trending with women
in in t-shirts I've only done t-shirts
so far on Tik Tok um I have lots of
items on Etsy but I had more time um I
there are lots of items I would love to
add to Tik Tok and if there were more
hours in the day I I would have them
already I will eventually I just don't
have the time yet um but yes t-shirts
specifically the uh Bell canvas 3001
Comfort color 1717 those the only two
products I've sold I sell them all day
long and in the W in just trending
women's niches that's the only Target
that I have right now okay wonderful
well let's talk numbers like how many
sales do you get a
day well up until about two days ago I
was averaging about 30 to 35 cells a day
um which is fantastic fantastic um and
then just just starting the last three
days I have been hitting over 60 cells a
day so yesterday I did 78 cells um the
day before that was I think like 68
cells um so I'm hoping this is my new
like trajectory but I have seen a steady
increase since I've started selling on
on TI Tok so I'm not expecting it to go
down as I'm I'm expecting it to
exponentially go up actually as as I
gain more followers through my videos
and my post and this stuff I'm I'm
expecting this to really Skyrocket for
me if I'm at you know I'm at today
yesterday I did 78 sales and I have
about 3,000 3,000 followers right now
which isn't a ton um but you know if I
can get 78 sales with 3,000 followers um
I I just can imagine how many Sals I
could get if I had 10,000 followers you
know exactly exactly well and that's
that's that's not bad at all in just a
few months so I hope everybody out
there's paying attention to this story
um well let's talk a little bit about
how you get there like how many products
do you publish on like a on like a daily
or weekly
basis right now in total I have about
240 products on the Tik Tok shop um I I
plan to have much much more
my my um you know every day I must um
post three so that is like my 100% no
matter what happens I'm putting three um
products on Tik Tok today I have the
same
um rules with my Etsy Shop no matter
what happens I want to put this many
products on per day because I think that
it is super important to show both Etsy
and Tik Tok that you're consistently on
the platform um and you're consistently
posting products you're telling them I'm
serious I'm I'm a serious business I'm
putting products out every every single
day that's my theory it's worked for me
um but you know some days this morning
before I I am here with you guys I've
put 10 items on Tik Tok today um and so
I have some days where I I try to get a
lot more and then um you know some days
where I don't get as much because I
split my time between Etsy and Tik Tok
but a minimum of three items per day for
me okay and then how many videos are you
posting on a daily
basis I am at a minimum of two a day
that's a lot right now but it's only
because I'm trying so hard you know you
with my mom with Etsy Tik Tok and really
just anything I do in life is to just
come in hot you know like you've got to
do a lot at the front end and so some
days I do four videos you know but I'm
trying to do a minimum of two and not
not miss that Mark yesterday I think I
did three um so it's I think with the
videos as well it's about staying
consistent okay and then what's what now
that you've been on on Tik Tok shop for
a while uh what what have you found that
is surprising about the about the seller
experience um well I mean really what I
found the most surprising so far um is
that you don't actually have to post
videos to Tik Tok to make sales um so
with me in the last 28 days I've done
about $20,000 on Tik Tok in sales and um
and this was actually before my sales
yesterday in the day before that I that
I checked this but um about 15% of that
came from about $3,000 of that came from
the videos that I posted um so if you
don't want to post the videos you don't
have to I would have still made $177,000
in sales this month had I not posted any
videos to my Tik Tok however I do think
that posting to your Tik Tok is what's
going to am I like do I want to stay at
$177,000 in sales no I want to hit much
higher than that and I think that
posting a video
and growing a following is going to
really Skyrocket my CS okay well I've
got one final question for you before we
move on to the Q&A portion and that's
that's if someone out there right now
watching is eager to get uh in on on Tik
Tok and follow in your shoes what advice
do you have for
them um I mean just well first of all
the advice that I would definitely give
you is to just go on YouTube and um
YouTube like Tik Tok violations first
because you do not want to get caught
with the I've already gotten a few of
them um and so it's like Etsy you know
you have to follow their rules and you
can get shut down you know pretty
quickly and so fi figure out what the
violations are first and and make sure
that you do not violate those my my rule
of thumb now is if I did not take the
photo and I did not take the video do
not post it because Tik Tok is all about
original content you cannot share
a video that you've pulled off of canva
or you cannot share a video that you
pulled off I don't even know how they
know it's not your video but you cannot
share any other video I got some
violation points for sharing a video off
of canva um so know the violations and
then just do a little bit of research
there's so many people on YouTube
telling you exactly how to do this and
make money and just get started it's so
easy all you have to do is set up your
account and then you use Tik Tok for
your research or use Etsy for your
research and just go to the product
Marketplace and see what's selling and
then make that better don't don't take
the exact exact design just take it and
make it better and then and post that
and you know you can find designs on
Etsy I find a lot of my designs I make a
lot I find a lot of out on Etsy but it's
it's really very easy to just today you
could open up your Etsy uh your Tik Tok
Talk Shop be approved by tomorrow list
10 items tomorrow and have a sale by the
next day that's how easy it is there you
go True Rewards have never been spoken
thank you so much for sharing your story
April I really appreciate it well we've
got some questions from our audience uh
are are you ready for this April I'm
ready excellent all right Leah what is
our audience out there saying what would
they like to
know yes we actually have a lot of
really good questions and specifically
for April so let's start with shadman
octar he's there asking what tip helped
you start earning online in the first
place um what tip for Etsy that helped
me start um earning online I will say go
and watch Stephen Chin's million doll
challenge um that was the one video
where I took a piece of advice from him
about
personalization that landed me $50,000
in sales by my second month on
Etsy um what tip on Tik Tok
um I don't even remember what video I
was watching on YouTube but it was just
about doing your research on Tik Tok and
going to find what items when you go to
the pro product Marketplace it will tell
you what items are in thousands of carts
and how many people have bought this
item um and then you know that people
are out there looking for that item and
so those are then those Niche whatever
that item is that niche or if I can't
find the product in printify I will just
take whatever that saying is that people
are loving so much and I'll put it on a
tote bag in printify or I'll put it on
something else and that has always
worked for me as well okay wonderful
excellent well let's let's keep the
question train rolling uh let's what is
our next question Leah so kind of going
about designs again we have a question
from Emma could you explain how to find
trending designs how how do you find
trends for your
Niche um so on Etsy um I will um find
what's in 20 plus carts really I I like
to add it to my cart because if you add
it to your cart and then you go to your
cart sometimes you will find some
designs that when you put it in your
cart it'll be like this is in 547 other
carts and that is what I like to call
like a golden nugget you're like you
know that so many people want this
design um and so that will immediately
go on Tik Tok because I'm like if 547
people have this in their c um so these
are designs that I find on Etsy and I'll
put them on Tik Tok um it's with Tik Tok
I just I either find what's trending on
Etsy or I go into the Tik Tok
Marketplace up in the search bar I type
in women's t-shirts and I see what comes
up and I see what people are buying and
what has lots lots have sold and lots in
the cart and stuff like that and and
those are the niches I will Design in
and and the designs that I will do okay
all right uh yes and and I preach I
preach the gospel of competitor research
if you want to know what designs are
trending find find and seek out other
people that are selling in your Niche
and see what they're doing build on
their ideas and make them your own okay
make competitor research part of your
regular workflow okay excellent all
right well let's move on um let's cover
some more questions in the time we have
left and I just want to apologize in
advance if we don't get to your question
but let's see how many we can fit in
what's what's the next question Leah yes
let's continue the topic about research
Haley has a question uh April what is
your recommendation for keyword research
for Tik
Tok listen I'm going to be perfectly
honest with you guys I have not put in a
lot of effort into the keyword um like
with Etsy with SEO that has seemed
completely different for me for Tik Tok
I have I have looked at what is selling
I've done my research on what has been
selling and people are just naming it
what it is and it's kind of like Etsy a
few different things so like if I have
like a a summertime shirt and say that
it says like salty on it okay so I'm
gonna say like salty shirt um comfort
colors if mine's on Comfort colors or
salty shirt and then I'll do salty shirt
Beach
t-shirt um summertime t-shirt and then
maybe one other thing like women's
t-shirt or women's shirt I try not to
repeat the words too much because Tik
Tok really doesn't like that and so I
try to to use like shirt t-shirt t te
and then that's kind of where I drop off
because I can't think of any other words
for t-shirts so um I don't put a ton of
effort and Research into the keywords um
and my Tik Tok has been pretty
successful so I I would say don't put
too much thought into that okay yeah but
but the thing to take away from that is
try to make each each uh title unique so
that you're not repeating yourself over
and over again good advice there let's
go let's go for uh two more quick
questions okay Leah all right so this is
actually kind of a two-parter we have a
question from Katherine do you see
better sales with lives or with just
posting and then also you mentioned that
you don't have to post a video on Tik
Tok to make a sale in that case how do
you make the sale do you put a link in
your bio how does that
work okay on the first question I can
answer that Beyond a doubt because I've
never gone live I'm terrified so I will
I'm working up to it um but I haven't
yet I you know I've done a little
research well I've watched some lives
and like I If you're on Tik Tok you and
let's please keep in mind I'm very new
to Tik Tok so like they're like oh
thanks for the tiny Dino and stuff like
that and I'm like what is that um so I
don't know what any of these things are
yet um but as far as your second part
I've never gone live that isn't that
hasn't worked for me yet so as far as
your second question um so this was kind
of confusing for me in the beginning but
you know your your Tik Tok shop is
separate from your Tik Tok like social
where you're posting and stuff from when
you put your items in your Tik Tok shop
now you can link your Tik Tok shop in
your social but when you put your items
in your Tik Tok shop you know these
items are called Product cards and Tik
Tock shop is is like a a search engine
and so Tik Tok shop is just pushing out
your product cards already so like I
said earlier like if there's a salty
women's T-shirt If someone goes in to
Tik Tok shop and searches for a women's
be t-shirt mine is probably going to
come up in the Tik Tok shop um and this
has nothing to do with my posting or
social so that's how I've made $177,000
in sales from just the Tik Tok shop it
doesn't have anything do with social I
never needed to post on my social to get
these sales so you can start your Tik
Tok shop today put all your items in the
Tik Tok shop never post a video and make
money I do think you'll make more if you
grow a following and post some videos
but you can still do it without posting
excellent all right let's go to our last
question all right uh yes last question
from Nerdy
kitten with all those sales how often do
you get Returns on Tik Tok um you know I
was thinking about this earlier when you
guys were talking about it and so um
embarrassingly I don't know my entire
Tik Tok total sales but I would have to
assume they're somewhere
around um I would have to assume I've
only been on for a few months like let's
say that they're around 40,000 or
something like that um I have had less
than 10 Returns I do not mess with them
I eat the cost and I move forward I I I
just don't care um it's not worth it um
I have the same theory on Etsy that I
just you know I I accept the return and
I move
forward okay well thank you very much
and I don't know why you're nervous
about going live we're live right now
and you're doing great so uh thank you
very much for thank you very much for
for sharing your story with us April
you're doing great
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