The rise of social commerce in international trade : a comparative analysis of TikTok Shop, Amazon Live, and Zalando’s influencer marketing
Xu, Hongyi (2025)
2025
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Tiivistelmä
This thesis studies how social commerce is reshaping international trade in China, USA and the European Union (EU), through its application to three key platforms: TikTok Shop, Amazon Live, and Zalando’s influencer based model. Fusion of the social media interaction with e-commerce transaction grafted the new dimension to global interaction of the consumer and trade.
This study is a mixed-method analysis including a comparative case analysis and a user-based survey, used to assess the heterogeneous strategies implemented by each platform. The case study approach gave qualitative understanding of how the platform operated and a structured questionnaire generated quantitative data from digitally active consumers aged 18–34. The research model was based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the Resource-Based View (RBV), and the Diffusion of Innovations theory to investigate the interplay between user behavior, platform functionalities, and market agility.
Key takeaways are that TikTok Shop’s algorithmic entertainment-first model allows for both impulsive product discovery and buying. And on the opposite end, you have Amazon Live adding transactional trust with its structured livestreams and integrated shopping features; and Zalando leveraging influence authenticity to grow brand trust in European markets. On all platforms, trust, preferred content format, and localization of the platforms were identified as important success enablers. The issues of regulation, logistics and cultural differences also emerged as obstacles to international expansion.
There is also a powerful long-term, strategic driver to international trade through social commerce, the report found. It provides scalable, affordable and culturally relevant models which enable brands, especially small to medium sized enterprises, to gain direct access to consumers worldwide. The implications of these findings are very substantial for developers of digital platforms, international marketing strategy-oriented practitioners, and policymakers looking to take advantage of the promise of social commerce.
This study is a mixed-method analysis including a comparative case analysis and a user-based survey, used to assess the heterogeneous strategies implemented by each platform. The case study approach gave qualitative understanding of how the platform operated and a structured questionnaire generated quantitative data from digitally active consumers aged 18–34. The research model was based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the Resource-Based View (RBV), and the Diffusion of Innovations theory to investigate the interplay between user behavior, platform functionalities, and market agility.
Key takeaways are that TikTok Shop’s algorithmic entertainment-first model allows for both impulsive product discovery and buying. And on the opposite end, you have Amazon Live adding transactional trust with its structured livestreams and integrated shopping features; and Zalando leveraging influence authenticity to grow brand trust in European markets. On all platforms, trust, preferred content format, and localization of the platforms were identified as important success enablers. The issues of regulation, logistics and cultural differences also emerged as obstacles to international expansion.
There is also a powerful long-term, strategic driver to international trade through social commerce, the report found. It provides scalable, affordable and culturally relevant models which enable brands, especially small to medium sized enterprises, to gain direct access to consumers worldwide. The implications of these findings are very substantial for developers of digital platforms, international marketing strategy-oriented practitioners, and policymakers looking to take advantage of the promise of social commerce.