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TikTok Shop Sellers 2025: New Product List Category Updates

Published:

August 22, 2025

TikTok Shop Sellers 2025: New Product List Category Updates

TikTok has announced a new performance assessment criterion for TikTok sellers. Now, the special theory of relativity is not limited to physics; even TikTok Shop utilizes relative performance to provide ratings to merchants. Let us explore what this new metric is and how it will change the benchmarks for TikTok sellers.

What are the New TikTok Shop Category-Based Benchmarks? 

We all know TikTok Shop offers a rating to the sellers, which indicates how good their services are. Previously, it used to provide the shop performance score individually without taking into account of the related sellers in the same product category. Now, TikTok has changed the process and has implemented a new process: Category-based Benchmarks.

Under this process, TikTok Shop will compare sellers in a relative product category and set particular benchmarks required in it. They will provide the Shop Performance Score to the sellers based on these product-specific criteria. It will help them get accurate ratings for their products and services. This will also benefit TikTok Shoppers, as they will be able to identify the best seller for a particular product category.

Why TikTok Shop Sellers Should Take This Update Seriously? 

This new change is going to impact the sellers in many ways. Hence, it will be important for sellers to stay updated with the latest score methodology. 

Accurate Assessment for the TikTok Sellers 

Comparing two sellers who sell different products is of no use, as they both have different benchmarks to meet. Hence, TikTok Shop has launched this update to evaluate the sellers within specific categories that have similar benchmarks, which will help them assess sellers more accurately. 

🤼 Lead to More Competition in the Product Category 

Since the sellers will now be evaluated within their respective categories, this will increase the competition. Therefore, sellers will have to optimize their business operations and make them more efficient to offer fast and reliable services. 

💹 Impact Ranking due to High Pricing 

Yes! Pricing will also be a major factor affecting the ranking of the products. It is because if the product pricing is found to be higher than that of other sellers, it may impact your ranking, which can hamper product sales.

How can TikTok Shop Merchants Excel these Benchmarks? 

So, you have seen that the new update can severely impact business. Let us explore how they can stay competitive and leverage this new change for their business growth. 

🎯 Focus on Product Quality 

Before hitting any parameter, try to improve the product quality, as this will be the major factor affecting the customer experience. Poor product quality leads to low customer ratings, which gives a wrong impression of your brand. 

📋 Optimize Product Listings 

Product listing provides a basis for understanding its category in the TikTok store. Hence, sellers need to optimize product listings by writing clear descriptions, images, videos, and guides to use the product if necessary. 

🛒 Enhance eCommerce Operations 

Whenever a consumer makes a purchase, the order journey starts from there itself. This means that sellers have to optimize their various operations, such as inventory management, order management, shipping, returns, and refund management. 

📑 Self Testing for Benchmarks 

TikTok Shop assesses sellers on certain benchmarks and gives scores on that basis. So, sellers can test themselves on these benchmarks and see if they can improve accordingly. Here are the following points that they need to keep checking: 

  1. Product Quality 
  2. Pricing 
  3. Shipping Speed 
  4. Returns and Refund Management 
  5. Customer Service

What would be the Future Landscape for TikTok Sellers?

It is not the first time TikTok Shop has made changes in its policies. It will continue doing so in the future as well. With the recent update, TikTok sellers will certainly face challenges. It would be interesting to see how these category-based benchmarks will make a shift in the TikTok social e-commerce. Hence, to prosper in businesses without a negative impact, sellers have to utilize the latest technology and deploy innovative ideas to stay ahead in the competition. 

Want to leverage the power of automated TikTok integration for faster and efficient e-commerce operations? Contact us, and our team will guide you through multiple ways of TikTok Shop growth. 

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