By: Sadie Harper
E-commerce is entering a new era. For years, the standard formula was straightforward: build a website, drive traffic through advertising, and optimize the path from product page to checkout. Today, social commerce is changing that model by combining entertainment, community, product discovery and purchasing into a single experience.
For Jay Galdo, Founder and CEO of Ace Marketing Specialists, that shift represents one of the biggest opportunities in digital marketing. Galdo has built Ace Marketing Specialists around adapting to changes in how consumers discover businesses and make purchasing decisions. The agency describes its work as developing customized digital strategies for businesses across industries, with Galdo serving as Founder and CEO.
One area at the center of that evolution is TikTok Shop and, specifically, live selling.
According to Galdo and Ace Marketing Specialists, campaigns and e-commerce operations the team has been involved with have contributed to more than 1.5 million products sold. That figure is company-reported rather than independently verified, but it illustrates the scale at which Galdo says the agency has been operating as it expands its focus on social commerce.
From Traditional E-Commerce to Discovery Commerce
The fundamental difference between traditional e-commerce and TikTok Shop is where the shopping journey begins.
A consumer visiting a traditional online store typically already has some degree of purchase intent. On TikTok, someone may open the app with no intention of buying anything and discover a product through a creator, short-form video or livestream minutes later.
TikTok calls this model “discovery e-commerce.” The platform says 83% of surveyed TikTok Shop shoppers have discovered a new product through the platform, while 70% have discovered a new brand. TikTok also reported that U.S. TikTok Shop sales during the first part of 2025 increased 120% compared with the same period a year earlier.
For marketers like Galdo, that creates an entirely different sales environment.
“The biggest change is that content and commerce aren’t separate anymore,” Galdo says. “The content can be the storefront, the salesperson and the checkout path all at once.”
TikTok Shop allows products to be purchased through shoppable videos, livestreams and product showcases without requiring the customer to follow the traditional journey of leaving a social platform, searching for a website and navigating through multiple pages before checking out.
That shortened path from discovery to purchase is becoming increasingly important for brands trying to capture consumers’ attention.
Why Live Selling Changes the Equation
Live selling takes the concept a step further.
Instead of presenting shoppers with a static product page, a TikTok Shop LIVE can operate more like a digital storefront with a salesperson standing directly in front of the customer.
Hosts can demonstrate products, answer questions, introduce limited-time offers, react to viewers and immediately adjust their presentation based on what is happening in the chat. Products can be attached directly to the livestream so viewers can purchase while continuing to watch.
TikTok itself highlights real-time interaction, product demonstrations, exclusive offers and a shortened purchase funnel as key characteristics of shoppable livestreams.
The scale is already substantial. TikTok reported that brands and creators hosted more than 8 million hours of LIVE shopping sessions in the United States during 2024. Among consumers surveyed by GlobalData who engaged with TikTok Shop, 76% reported purchasing something from a livestream during the previous year.
The format has continued evolving. In 2026, TikTok Shop introduced LIVE Auction capabilities that allow shoppers to compete for products through real-time bidding, further blending shopping and entertainment.
For Ace Marketing Specialists, the opportunity is bigger than simply putting someone in front of a camera.
Successful live commerce requires an operation behind the livestream.
Product selection, pricing, inventory, hosts, promotions, paid advertising, creative strategy, fulfillment, customer service, analytics and content all have to work together. A high-performing live operation can also generate information almost instantly about which products attract attention and which offers actually convert.
That feedback loop is something traditional marketing campaigns often cannot replicate at the same speed.
The New Sales Floor Is a Smartphone Screen
Galdo views live commerce as a modern version of something consumers already understand: live retail.
The difference is scale.
A traditional salesperson may interact with a handful of customers simultaneously. A livestream can potentially put a host in front of hundreds or thousands of viewers while allowing those viewers to purchase directly from their phones.
That changes the role of the person on camera as well. A successful live host isn’t simply an influencer. The position increasingly combines entertainment, product knowledge, customer service, salesmanship and community building.
The best livestreams don’t necessarily feel like polished advertisements. They feel active.
Viewers ask questions. Hosts respond. Products sell out. New products appear. Promotions change. Customers interact with one another in the comments.
The storefront becomes entertainment.
That dynamic is reflected in TikTok Shop’s broader growth. TikTok currently says its Shop business recorded 80% annual sales growth in 2025 compared with 2024, while the number of active e-commerce creators increased 120%.
Content Is Becoming Part of the Commerce Infrastructure
This evolution also changes how brands should think about content.
Historically, companies created marketing content primarily to generate awareness and then attempted to move the consumer somewhere else to complete a transaction.
Social commerce increasingly eliminates that separation.
A short-form video can generate discovery. A creator can establish trust. A livestream can demonstrate the product. A promotional offer can create urgency. The customer can then purchase without leaving the platform.
TikTok’s own growth strategy reflects this increasingly interconnected system. Its ACE framework focuses on Assortment, Content and Empowerment, emphasizing the combination of products, content and creators rather than treating each as an isolated marketing channel.
For Ace Marketing Specialists, this means thinking beyond individual posts or advertisements.
The objective is to build a complete commerce ecosystem around attention.
More Than Going Viral
One of the misconceptions surrounding TikTok commerce is that success requires a viral video.
Virality can certainly accelerate exposure, but Galdo’s approach emphasizes repeatable infrastructure rather than waiting for a single breakout post.
A brand needs products people actually want. It needs compelling offers. It needs creators or hosts capable of holding attention. It needs enough content to continually generate new discovery. It needs fulfillment capable of handling increased order volume. And it needs advertising and analytics systems that can identify what is producing profitable growth.
That operational approach becomes increasingly important as brands scale.
Selling ten products through a livestream is one thing. Selling hundreds or thousands requires inventory management, customer support, shipping processes and disciplined financial tracking behind the scenes.
For agencies entering the space, that means social commerce increasingly sits at the intersection of marketing and business operations.
The Future of E-Commerce Is More Interactive
Traditional e-commerce isn’t disappearing. Consumers will continue shopping through websites, search engines and major marketplaces.
But the path to those purchases is changing.
TikTok Shop’s U.S. launch is only dated to September 2023, yet the platform has already attracted major retailers and brands while continuing to expand its logistics and commerce infrastructure. In September 2026, TikTok Shop and UPS announced an arrangement allowing eligible U.S. shoppers to make box-free and label-free returns at roughly 10,000 locations, another sign that social-commerce platforms are developing infrastructure that increasingly resembles established e-commerce marketplaces.
For Galdo, the larger lesson is that businesses cannot assume tomorrow’s customer will shop the same way yesterday’s customer did.
Consumers increasingly want to discover a product, understand it, interact with the person selling it and purchase it without interrupting the experience.
That is why live selling represents more than another advertising placement for Ace Marketing Specialists.
It represents a broader transition from searching for products to discovering them, from static storefronts to interactive ones, and from content that simply promotes commerce to content that is commerce.
With Ace Marketing Specialists reporting involvement in the sale of more than 1.5 million products, Galdo is positioning the agency around that transition and a simple premise: the brands that understand where consumer attention is moving, and build the infrastructure to sell there, will be better prepared for the next generation of e-commerce.
For all inquiries, please contact Jay@acemarketingspecialists.com
