TikTok, Whatnot’s livestream shopping gains momentum in the US

From a warehouse just north of Chicago, Sarah Potempa, celebrity hairstylist and CEO of the viral curling iron Beachwaver, continues to captivate thousands of viewers for hours on end while selling her products on TikTok Live.

This type of livestream shopping, which has been booming in China for the past decade, is also gaining momentum in the United States, thanks to social media giant TikTok and live commerce platform Whatnot, which just reached a valuation of $20 billion.

Beachwaver made about $8,000 in sales in the first four hours of a TikTok livestream in late July that was witnessed by CNBC. She auctioned off a limited edition curling iron while her teenage son DJed behind her. Demo of hair care products. He then promised viewers that if he sold 500 orders, he would shave his brother-in-law’s head live on camera.

This was one of the hundreds of livestreamed shows Beachwaver puts on each year. About a quarter of TikTok Shop’s $1 million in sales by 2026 will come from livestreams, with the company hosting its own sales shows and working with affiliate creators on the popular social media app.

Reminiscent of the QVC boom of the past few decades, livestream shopping puts consumers in front of a host selling products in real time.

The company says it is currently live on TikTok for more than 200 hours a week across seven channels as QVC prioritizes digital after recently emerging from bankruptcy.

“QVC is a great example of a large, well-established retailer that may have been seen as a competitor to TikTok Shops…but they actually turned out to be a really successful seller,” said Patrick Nomensen, president of TikTok Shops Strategic Initiatives in the Americas.

Beachwaver started with QVC. TikTok and Whatnot have reinvented the wheel.

“Nobody says, ‘Okay, you have 10 minutes at 7 p.m. Get ready and you’re done in 10 minutes,'” Potempa said. “We definitely need to use digital platforms longer, but it actually gives us more control over our revenue.”

According to eMarketer industry estimates, sales in the U.S. live shopping industry are expected to reach nearly $20 billion in 2026, an increase of about 35% from the previous year.

Still, it’s far from the rapid growth of live shopping in China.

Alibaba introduced Taobao Live in China in 2016. According to eMarketer, the market is expected to exceed $50 billion within five years and exceed $1.1 trillion by 2026.

Live Shopping is increasingly being integrated into China’s “super apps,” used by millions of users and combining features such as social media and WeChat messaging, AI assistance in Alibaba’s Qwen, food delivery and travel booking.

“[Chinese consumers]still love the store, but they’re using the livestream portion of the digital experience for entertainment, engagement and inspiration,” said Neil Saunders, managing director at GlobalData. “In the United States, we have traditionally relied more on stores to fulfill that role.”

Sanders said the situation is changing as younger consumers lean more toward live commerce to find products.

TikTok Shop launched in 2023. The company exclusively shared with CNBC that live shopping sales more than doubled in the first half of 2026 compared to the same period in 2025.

TikTok said the number of live shopping sessions increased by more than 60% and total live time by more than 80% during the same period.

Founded in 2019, Whatnot built its audience around novelty and collectibles. It has grown rapidly over the past year, with its valuation doubling since October. Whatnot ranked No. 8 on this year’s CNBC Disruptor 50 list, which identifies the most promising venture-backed companies.

Whatnot says it is the largest live shopping platform in the United States, but declined to release domestic sales figures. The company told CNBC that the majority of its $8 billion in 2025 global sales will come from the United States.

“On Whatnot and TikTok, you can have 10,000 people watching your show at once (5,000 people),” Eric Pagan, who sells brands on both platforms, said in an interview in mid-August. “We did a show on TikTok this past weekend and it hit six figures at the box office…I think what brands don’t realize yet is that it exists.”

Whatnot’s main focus is on auctions where viewers can bid on items in real-time. TikTok launched live auctions in January.

“We feel like things are going really, really well and that live shopping is becoming a little more mainstream,” said Armand Wilson, chief revenue officer at Whatnot. “In the first year, it was mostly collectibles. Now, just about anyone can download Whatnot and find something that’s right for them.”

Traditional online marketplaces such as Amazon, walmart and eBay While there are native platforms for merchants to host live shopping streams, these platforms are not as inherently video-first as social media sites.

Amazon and Walmart declined to comment on their live shopping operations, but an eBay Live representative said the service makes shopping “more human.” All three companies declined to share livestream sales with CNBC.

Mark Yuan, former head of business development for eBay’s live shopping division and current owner of e-commerce consulting firm And Luxe, said traditional marketplaces benefit from the consumer trust that comes with their longevity.

“These are things that money can’t buy, but unfortunately the things that give them an advantage may also be a barrier,” he says. “Structurally, it is very difficult to transform to a discovery-first or content-first (platform).”

What new entrants are doing successfully is creating a forum for like-minded consumers.

Whatnot, which is particularly popular for its collectibles, says it prioritizes the community and has found success in areas such as Funko Pop figures, Pokemon cards, sneakers and fashion.

“I think that ethos of engaging with communities, deeply understanding their problems, and building products around that is what has gotten us to where we are today and what really sets us apart,” Wilson said.

Pagan, the livestream host, said that without the trust of viewers, “there’s no point in even going live.”

“Those guys are my friends,” he added. “I believe they know things about me that the average person on the street doesn’t know. And we had those conversations on livestream.”

Marshall Cohen, Sarkana’s chief retail analyst, said livestream shopping can help bridge the gap between e-commerce and traditional retail.

“You can’t touch and feel the product, but you can hear other people’s opinions about it,” Cohen said. “[Live shopping]compensates for the lack of touch and feel, and that’s always been the biggest challenge online.”

However, each platform has its own challenges. Whatnot and TikTok have had to contend with issues of counterfeit and stolen goods.

For sellers, leveraging large platforms comes at a cost. Whatnot charges a fee of 4% to 8% of the sale depending on the product, and TikTok charges 6% plus an additional payment processing fee.

And with the growing popularity of live shopping, it’s becoming harder to compete for eyeballs.

“The biggest challenge is really visibility,” says Globaldata’s Saunders. “You need to make sure your feed is algorithmically aligned and visible to the right people.”