Traditionally a brand's path to market was pretty predictable, you’d pitch for shelf space in a retailer, spend budget on Google ads and maybe run a series of sponsored posts on Instagram. The idea of building your entire commercial channel on TikTok would've got you some polite nods in a boardroom and then been put to one side.
That's not what's happening today, buying products directly through social platforms without ever leaving the app has moved from being experimental to a core channel at a pace, and something that has caught some established brands completely off guard. For a new generation of UK consumer brands, it's now their primary channel.
The scale of what's happened is undeniable.The UK social commerce market was worth around £7.4 billion in 2024 and is on course to reach £15.7 billion by 2028 with an annual growth rate of over 21%. This is more than a niche trend, it shows structural shift in how British consumers find and buy things.
TikTok Shop sits at the centre of this, the platform more than doubled its UK shopper base in 2024, up 131% while revenue grew by 180%, earning it the title of the UK's fastest-growing online retailer that year. Live commerce is showing a similar story - over 6,000 shopping livestreams take place on the platform in the UK every day, and around half of TikTok users have gone on to buy something after watching one.
Black Friday 2025 was the real proof of this, over the Black Friday and Cyber Monday period, UK sales on TikTok Shop were up 50% year-on-year, with the platform selling 27 items every second at peak.
What makes selling on social platforms different is the distance between seeing something and buying it, that gap has effectively collapsed.
The traditional e-commerce asked a lot of the consumer, ‘see something, remember it, search for it, navigate to a site, and then convert.’ That's a lot of steps where you can lose a buyer. The social model rewires that, users move through a ‘discover-learn-buy’ journey, often starting with no specific product in mind, finding something through content and completing the purchase without ever leaving the app. For newer brands without the budgets to drive traditional search, that's a huge leg-up.
The brands winning here have ditched the traditional model and in its place live commerce has created something closer to a real-time focus group. Brands can now make content, build community and sell direct, while taking questions, gathering feedback and adjusting their offer in real time. The feedback loop between brand and buyer has never been tighter.
For UK consumer brands launching today, TikTok isn't a channel you turn to after you've figured everything else out - it's now where you figure everything out, and when you're building at pace insurance is probably the last thing on your mind but as social commerce becomes a serious business, the risks that come with it need some attention too.
Algorithm changes, account suspensions or platform outages can take your primary revenue channel offline overnight, and that's before you factor in the operational risks that come with scaling fast. Whether it’s product liability cover for goods sold through platforms where quality control and supply chains are often moving fast, business interruption cover that reflects platform dependency rather than just physical premises, or Directors and Officers cover for the moment a product or comment goes viral for the wrong reasons.
That's exactly where Capsule can help, we’re built specifically for high-growth startups and scaling consumer brands - the kind of businesses that are rewriting the rules on how to sell, and need cover that actually keeps up. If you want to chat about your exposures, Get in touch!
Disclaimer: This content has been produced for general information purposes and should not be taken as formal advice. You should always seek specific professional advice before acting on any of the information given.