This 27-year-old's beauty business started at her mom's kitchen table — now TikTok Live brings in over $180K in sales in a day

Daisy Kelly found that out after launching Glow For It, an eyelash serum she created after struggling with a habit of pulling out her eyelashes. She told the BBC that she started the business from her mother’s kitchen table in 2020 while she was still a student. Today, the company generates about £6 million (about $7.9 million USD) in annual sales.

Why shoppers are buying on TikTok

Over 40% of Glow For It’s sales now come through TikTok Shop UK, much of it driven by livestreams where Kelly demonstrates products, answers customer questions and sells directly to viewers.

“I think live shopping gives people that connection and interaction that we’re all craving... We actually generated over £100,000 revenue in one 12 hour TikTok live,” Kelly told the BBC. “It’s categorically changed the trajectory of my business.”

Kelly’s success reflects a broader shift in how consumers are shopping online. Americans now spend roughly $32 million each day on TikTok Shop. In 2024, TikTok also became the second-most-popular social commerce platform in the U.S., with 26% of online shoppers purchasing products through the app.

Cristy Stewart-Harfmann, a professor of digital and influencer marketing at Florida Atlantic University, who also sells products through TikTok Shop, told Moneywise that TikTok removes much of the friction between discovering a product and buying it. Unlike Amazon, where shoppers typically search for something they already want, TikTok introduces products while users are casually scrolling.

“On TikTok, the product finds you — mid-scroll, demonstrated by someone who feels like a friend, with a checkout button two taps away,” she said. “It’s not shopping, it’s discovery you didn’t ask for, and that’s exactly why it converts.”

Stewart-Harfmann explained that TikTok shoppers often see products unboxed, worn or tested before deciding whether to buy them. That experience can feel closer to shopping in person than browsing a traditional online marketplace.

“For niche or small brands, it’s the most honest storefront on the internet,” she said.

For entrepreneurs like Kelly, that visibility can replicate the experience of a crowded physical store.

“It’s like having 500 people in your shop,” Kelly said.

When convenience fuels impulse spending

The same features that make TikTok Shop powerful for businesses — personalized recommendations, viral videos and near-instant checkout — can also make it harder for consumers to pause before buying.

Michael Stein, founder and CEO of Tarps Plus, said that TikTok Shop has made online shopping more impulse-driven.

“Users almost instantly see what may be their next favorite product in a short, engaging video” he told Moneywise.