How TikTok-viral brand Beachwaver is navigating the shifting social commerce landscape
TikTok’s future in the U.S. is still up in the air, thanks to a postponed federal ban — but one of its earliest brand partners isn’t pessimistic about the path forward.
Beauty-tech brand The Beachwaver Co. was one of the first companies to sell on TikTok Shop, where it sold more than 1.1 million units in just one year. The experience “has been a blast,” COO and co-founder Erin Potempa-Wall said at the Modern Retail Marketing Summit on Wednesday. But, she acknowledged, “There is that looming cloud of, ‘This isn’t going to last forever.'”
“We have this lovely community, and the community knows we’ve got so many other platforms,” she said. “If and when a ban does happen, we’ll redirect.”
This pivot shouldn’t be too difficult for the brand, as The Beachwaver Co. has been in the social-commerce and live-selling game for more than a decade. Founded independently in 2010, the brand launched on QVC with its rotating curling iron in 2012 and quickly earned a spot on 100 episodes in one year. After some years in physical stores — thanks to partnerships with Ulta, Nordstrom, Target and Costco — The Beachwaver Co. pulled back its distribution to focus on social media. It’s since driven millions of sales through TikTok Shop, Amazon Live, Instagram Live and Pinterest. Today, the brand also sells hair care and body care, in addition to its curling irons.
In the last six months, The Beachwaver Co. made its return to brick-and-mortar retail, but it’s still plowing ahead on its social strategy. It’s built up a strong following of loyal customers across social platforms, thanks to its multi-hour live streams and packing shows, Potempa-Wall said. “We’ve had people watching the entire 12 hours of a show,” she said. Customers also comment on the brand’s TikTok videos, soliciting product recommendations and asking things like, “Will this work for my hair texture?”
“The very good part of digital and social is building this community, being able to have this connection to people and being able to have them feel like they know us — they know the brand, they love the products,” Potempa-Wall said. “People want that balance of education and entertainment. They want to feel like they’re getting some value out of [content].”
However, what works on one social platform won’t always work on another, the brand has found. While the end goal may be the same — say, selling and engagement — the process won’t be. “What works on Pinterest is going to flop on Instagram,” Potempa-Wall explained. “You have to understand the platform, you’ve got to understand the audience, [and] you’ve got to understand the metrics that the algorithm uses.”
The Beachwaver Co. isn’t abandoning TikTok as the company tries to find a buyer in the U.S. “From a general audience perspective, we’re still seeing a great response [there],” Potempa-Wall said. However, The Beachwaver Co. is still looking to different TikTok markets. It’s setting up TikTok Shop in the U.K. and just finalized its channel in the European Union.
“[We’re taking] what we’ve learned here, blueprinting it, trying to lay it on top of another platform and another location, and then seeing how it’s going to work and what adjustments have to be made,” Potempa-Wall said. The brand is also continuing to focus on other social channels and is “making a big Amazon push” with Amazon Live, Potempa-Wall said.
Ultimately, no matter what happens with any social platform, the brand is optimistic about its ability to make things work. “What we’re very good at is taking risks,” Potempa-Wall said. “We’re not afraid to try different things.”