Crocs is livestreaming on TikTok Shop all month long in honor of ‘Croctober’

Continuously livestreaming for 744 hours is no easy feat, Terence Reilly, Crocs, Inc.’s chief brand officer, told Modern Retail in an interview at the store on Oct. 21. Some of Crocs’s livestreams are filmed at the brand’s newer concept store in New York, while others are at off-site studios. The hosts — whom Crocs works with through agencies — are on camera for multiple hours at a time, showing off products while also responding to viewers’ questions and comments.

“Croctober” isn’t done, but a little more than three weeks in, Crocs’s TikTok Shop effort is “seeing really, really impressive results, both with new customers and with revenue,” Reilly said in an interview. “We had a forecast out there of what we thought we could do, and we’re significantly exceeding it.” Reilly declined to give specific sales stats for “Croctober” on TikTok Shop, but the brand’s follower account in the U.S. (@crocsshop_us) has nearly tripled since the start of October, a representative told Modern Retail. (On Oct. 23, its follower count stood at nearly 90,000.)

Crocs is no stranger to TikTok Shop; it joined the platform in 2024 and quickly became the platform’s top footwear brand, in terms of sales. Following close behind, at No. 2, is its sister brand, Heydude. Crocs is committed to selling on TikTok Shop, and after the success of “Croctober,” it hopes to fold livestreaming into more aspects of the business, Reilly said. He floated going live to spotlight a new product or go behind the scenes of a marketing campaign.

“Now that we know how to do this, we can do this and other things,” Reilly said. “And I think you’ll start to see that in 2026. We’ll bring this livestreaming beyond just commerce, to have richer storytelling. And we’ll start to build — into all the relationships we have — livestreaming expectations.”

Reilly mentioned the need to take livestreaming “mobile,” or beyond a store or studio. “I think there’s an opportunity for me to walk outside onto Broadway and find Crocs on feet and give away free pairs and livestream,” he said. “Or, we could have some of our partners introduce their own collabs or maybe a new song. [We’re looking for] things that further connect our brand with culture.”

So far, Crocs has detected “key learnings” from the “Croctober” stream that it’s hoping to use in future livestreams, Reilly said. Some of the brand’s highest viewer counts are from 12 a.m. to 7 a.m., local time, much to Crocs’s surprise. “I don’t know if people are up early or staying up late, but they’re engaged,” Reilly said. “People can’t get enough.”

What’s also been helpful, Crocs said, has been selling merchandise that’s exclusive to the TikTok Shop livestream. These include things like Crocs baseball caps — which Reilly sported in a recent TikTok — and Knicks and Nets shoes. Crocs has also brought celebrity partners onto its “Croctober” livestream, like Nets forward Jalen Wilson and Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart. Also popular among viewers are giveaways, both in terms of products and tickets to sports games, as well as a “Golden Ticket” that includes free Crocs every month.

In an interview with Modern Retail, Patrick Nommensen, head of strategic initiatives at TikTok Shop, said Crocs is one example of the many businesses using TikTok Shop to “bring that spark back to shopping.”

“On our platform, we’ve seen that the number of live sessions that creators and merchants are hosting each month has nearly tripled over the past year,” Nommensen said.

In terms of revenue, TikTok Shop has seen “significant growth and momentum for large brands like Crocs,” Nommensen said. TikTok Shop defines large brands as ones with more than $30 million in annual revenue. In the first half of 2025, “over 1,000” of these brands collectively grew sales on TikTok Shop by 84% year over year, Nommensen said. The Crocs brand reported $3.278 billion in sales for its 2024 fiscal year.

Live shopping is, indeed, taking off in the U.S. — although, as Modern Retail has reported, it lags behind demand in China, and many TikTok viewers still prefer short videos. But the format is resonating with shoppers; a 2024 survey TikTok conducted with GlobalData found that 76% of consumers who engaged with TikTok Shop said they bought something from a livestream in the past year. On Black Friday last year, TikTok Shop drove more than $100 million in U.S. sales.

Sosa Eholor is a livestream strategist and the creative director of Makia Media. A former live host herself, she’s worked with clients like comedian and actor DeShae Frost on livestream strategies. Eholor told Modern Retail that viewers tuning into livestreams on TikTok Shop are “trained to spend,” which can translate well to loyalty. Many viewers, she said, will buy a brand’s product to get a host’s attention. Others spend money to “gift” virtual items to hosts, like roses or dolphins. (The Crocs livestream offers this ability, as well.)

The best brand livestreams, in Eholor’s opinion, are ones with engaging hosts, eye-catching backgrounds, and fun music or sound effects. “People are tuning into streamed content for the vibes and the experience,” she said. “If you do it right, people will leave your stream and feel as though they just got back home from an event, without leaving their house.”

Crocs, for its part, wants to make sure it’s worthy of consumers’ time. “We’re learning on the fly, and we’ll be even sharper as we start to do more things [with livestreaming],” Reilly said. “But it’s clear the consumer is reacting with their impressions and trust and purchase power.”