Daisy Kelly generated over £100,000 in revenue during a single 12-hour TikTok live stream. The 27-year-old founder of Glow For It, an eyelash serum she created after years of pulling out her eyelashes, says live shopping has “categorically changed the trajectory of my business.”
She started Glow For It from her mother’s kitchen table in 2020 while still a student, after beauty salons closed during Covid and she decided to make a serum to help her lashes grow back. Now the business generates £6m a year, with more than 40% of sales coming from TikTok Shop UK, increasingly from livestreams.
“Daisy Kelly made £100,000 in one 12-hour TikTok live, as 30% of shoppers now buy via livestream.”
“I think live shopping gives people that connection and interaction that we're all craving,” said Kelly. “It's like having 500 people in your shop.” Her team goes live from a studio for at least six hours a day, with different presenters showing off products and answering questions.
Live shopping is becoming mainstream. According to new research from retail agency Savvy Marketing, 30% of shoppers surveyed said they had bought something from a live shopping event. “The big retailers have got to grab hold of this,” said Catherine Shuttleworth, CEO of Savvy. “It's grown from nothing to a huge thing really quickly. If you haven't got a strategy for live selling, you're going to miss out.”
TikTok Shop said UK sales grew by more than 30% year-on-year in June, with live shopping the fastest-growing format. The platform now hosts over 6,000 livestreams every day. At an event in London's Covent Garden market, 20 small businesses were selling live to customers nationwide.
Halal butcher Manny Malik from Wolverhampton, whose family runs Malik Butchers, used nothing more than a smartphone, a lighting kit and a fridge full of fresh meat. Around 200 people tuned into his session. “Last week we did a TikTok live for three hours and we sold £8,000 worth of meat,” he said — an amount that would normally take three to four days in his shop. The business is now opening a second store in Stoke, driven by the TikTok sales.
TikTok Shop UK keeps up to 9p from every £1 sold as its standard commission. For small businesses like Glow For It and Malik Butchers, the platform has become an essential sales channel — and one that shows no signs of slowing down.
