Three years since the debut of TikTok Shop, brands are still weighing whether it’s worth investing in the social commerce channel.

In the past year, Whisker, the maker of Litter Robot, finally took the plunge, joining TikTok Shop primarily to secure an early adoption advantage on the platform and reach younger demographics like Gen Z and Gen Alpha.

Whisker CMO Hew Loyd joined this week’s Modern Retail Podcast to discuss the pros and cons of DTC brands betting on TikTok Shop.

Despite being a high-consideration item at $699, Litter Robot found early success on TikTok Shop due to its unique, visually-appealing features. The product’s automated self-cleaning process is what the company calls a “thumb stopper” for audiences, which gets curious users to pause and see how it works. This virality and subsequent TikTok Shop sales have created a halo effect for the brand, with Whisker anticipating that its TikTok Shop presence will drive sales across other channels, like its direct-to-consumer website and Amazon.

In this episode Loyd discusses:

Whisker’s firm pricing strategy, with the company opting to stay away from the go-to aggressive discounting strategies many TikTok Shop merchants adopt.

Gaining first-party data by onboarding TikTok Shop customers to the Litter Robot app.

Carefully scaling Whisker’s affiliate program by prioritizing niche content creators over a high-volume posting approach.