Hey Reader,

Josh here, co-founder of AmpliSell. If you're at Shoptalk Nashville today, look for my red hair and say hi!

Now let's talk about tentpole events for TikTok and how they compare to Amazon.

Prime Day drove more TOTAL sales for our clients than TikTok's July Deals For You Days (DFYD), but TikTok's DFYD event drove a bigger % increase in sales (8.6x daily average).

Pound for pound, TikTok's event won. And you still have time to sign up for it.

Now I'm not arguing you shouldn't run Amazon events. They work.

I'm saying you should be running TikTok's events because they're a big driver of revenue on this channel.

Let's look at the data from a brand that ran both.

During both events we ran a 20% discount on their hero product.

Amazon's Best Deal ran at 4.2x the daily run rate. TikTok ran at 8.6x.

Amazon's baseline is larger, so 4.2x still produced more total revenue, roughly $150K more.

But per dollar of baseline, TikTok sold about 2x what Amazon did.

PLUS, TikTok lifted Amazon too. For every $1 sold on TikTok during the event, TikTok drove an extra $0.28 in Amazon sales.

The tentpole events compared

This October the two events overlap.

TikTok runs Oct 4 to 18.

Amazon runs Oct 6 to 7, inside TikTok's window.

What each event costs

Amazon: $100 up front per price discount, charged even if it sells nothing, plus 1.5% of discounted sales, capped at $5,000.

TikTok: no upfront fee. Two requirements: Smart Promotion enrollment and a GMV Max ad campaign.

Smart Promotion is TikTok Shop’s promotion program. TikTok pools promo money (part yours, part TikTok’s) and decides when and where to show discounts.

The fee is a flat percentage of everything your shop sells: 3.5% outside campaigns, 5% during this one. In return, TikTok guarantees at least that much back in platform-funded discounts or ad credits, and enrollment is required for every major event, including this one.

GMV Max: every registered product needs a GMV Max ad campaign. Open Shop Ads, find GMV Max Campaigns, and set your own ROI target and budget.

At $100K in event sales: Amazon’s fee is $1,600 per discount. TikTok’s Smart Promotion fee is $5,000.

What you get back

Amazon: a deal badge and a savings summary in search and on the product page.

TikTok Standard (5% off retail): a campaign tag, platform subsidies, and, if invited, automatic promo emails to your past buyers and followers.

TikTok Advanced (15 to 20% off retail): Flash Sale or Premium Offers placement, TikTok-funded coupons, and offsite ads, email, and SMS.

TikTok Better Price Rewards: a platform-funded instant discount of at least 3%, matched 1:1 with yours.

Plus content money: up to $600 in live coupons, $1,500 in ad credits for the livestream contest, and $800 in creator sample coupons.

Price floors

Both platforms keep October’s deal price out of your future floors. Amazon excludes Prime Big Deal Days prices from the Black Friday and Cyber Monday lookback. TikTok excludes mega-campaign prices from its lowest-price math.

If You Want to Launch the TikTok DFYD This Week

1. Confirm TikTok eligibility: Shop Performance Score 3.5+, late dispatch under 20%.
2. Set free shipping at a $30 threshold or lower, or apply for the exemption.
3. Enroll hero SKUs at Advanced if margin supports 15 to 20% off retail.
4. Enroll the rest at Standard.
5. Set your GMV Max ROI target and budget before Oct 4.
6. Brief your creators on the hashtag and distribute the codes.
7. Incentivize volume: stack a per-video bonus on top of commission for the 14-day window.

Reply if you get stuck on any of these steps and I'll walk you through it.

And don't forget to say hi if you're at Shoptalk!

We help ecommerce leaders launch and scale TikTok Shop.

• Creator Community Building
• Sampling and Content Strategy
• GMV Max & DTC Advertising Campaigns
• LIVE stream operations & scheduling
• Halo sales tracking and reporting
• Full-funnel analytics & optimization

We plan, execute, and deliver TikTok growth.

Book a call with me here -> https://calendar.app.google/SjUfGyLrPdH9g7fS9​
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Cheers,