Challenges Faced by Students on TikTok Shop as a Digital Marketing Strategy.

17

One of the main challenges faced by students is the rapid pace of change in the field of

digital marketing that is constantly evolving wherein various strategies are implemented to

attract them. It is because not all we see online is what we get. They may end up disappointed if

their expectations are not met, leading to the decrease of buyers’ trust when it comes to making a

purchasing decision. Furthermore, the complexity of digital marketing requires students to adopt

new approaches and stay ahead of current strategies (Debbie, et al., 2020). Students must also

navigate the shift from traditional marketing methods to digital marketing, which involves

understanding the benefits and limitations of digital marketing.

Consumers seek to recognize significant details of the product, however Hootsuite as

cited by Harisandi and Purwanto (2023) emphasize that TikTok Shop’s sellers deliver

incomplete information and details in price, product characteristic, measurement, usability,

delivery time, and other essential information. Thus, the online service imperfections can

become visible and observable. Since additional descriptions are not included, the consumers

need to put an effort in order to directly ask their concerns in the comment section or personally

send a message to the seller’s TikTok account. Despite the application recognition as a user-

friendly feature consumers have been given additional responsibilities which is not their role.

On the other hand, as TikTok Shop has been recognized by its remarkable advertising

purposes, along with it has converted into a fake promotion destination for sellers to spread their

manipulated and fabricated information about the product. While some of their strategy is to give

unsuitable comments, suggestions, and recommendations to the product’s quality (Ma & Yu,

2021). Consequently, consumers may simply be deceived by a swindler who is capable of

misleading anyone in order to obtain money, without their knowledge. In addition Wang (2020)

has highlighted that it is common to hear stories about people who have been tricked on TikTok.

Because of the sellers' scheme of talking and presenting the product, consumers are discouraged

from buying them. Given that there are several sellers and video advertisements, TikTok can’t

provide security and protection to the consumers. Hence, a great number of people may easily

lose and forget about its worth and value.

Several consumers are experiencing trouble purchasing a product online, due to the

unavoidable online fraud or scam that occurs frequently. James and Jargon (2023) reported that

some advertisers have scammed TikTok users. Although TikTok Shop eventually removed the

advertisers, the damage has been done. As a result, they view it as a risk that could potentially

harm them financially. Given that, shopping online does not allow the consumers to engage with

the seller personally, thus the possibility of stealing personal information, inaccurate shipping

times, and losing money to the low-quality product that has been delivered may happen

(Harianto and Ellyawati, 2023). Delivering and meeting the standards of the consumers is

essential in order to provide a value to the money they have spent and to establish trust between

the consumers and the sellers.

Sumanti et al. (2022) put forward several recommendations on the influence of

influencers on TikTok Shop in shopping online. Product owners or brands are expected to be

more observant in choosing the right TikTok influencers when they want to promote a product.

For example, using TikTok influencers whose content and personality should match the products

they have. The products advertised through TikTok influencers and the products sold to buyers

must be of the same quality so that buyers’ would not be not disappointed and feel deceived. In

this way, students will avoid facing difficulties in purchasing products online, but instead
recognize the transparency and honesty from the product advertised to them. This is intended to

prevent buyers from suffering loss in the quality of their purchased item.

Aziz and Wahid (2018) pointed out that one of the reasons why people do not prefer

shopping online was due to its difficulty in evaluating a product, since they like it better when

they touch and feel the actual product. Because not being able to see, test, and handle can

become an opening to grow lack of reliability to the product’s functionality and quality. On the

other hand, having the chance to have a physical interaction with a product can develop a sense

of security and assurance that it is in good shape. Developing a standard and becoming likely

satisfied with its condition and physical appearance.

Products online are partnered with a description that describes its features and

characteristics however, not all of them are accurate and correct. Because there are times when

the details provided are not organized thus, it can be misleading and turn buyers to become

unsatisfied, stopping them to frequently buy a product through online again. This is because in

an attempt to attract more views/engagement in the video, TikTok sellers tend to put many

hashtags in the video description of products, with some of them being unrelated to the video for

the sake of exposure (Ling, et al., 2023). Furthermore, some online consumer’s do not trust the

product's information particularly to its size and quality, specifically to clothes and shoes. On top

of that, buyers are more concerned if the item looks good, appropriate, suitable, and fitted to

them (Ahmadi and Hudrasyah) as cited by (Azmi et al., 2023).

Zhang et al. (2023) have stated that 63% in women's clothing are disappointed and

dissatisfied in shopping online. Since personal interaction between buyers and sellers is not

consistently practiced in the application. Therefore, the consumers who seek advice and guidance
are not assisted and served. Also, numerous consumers preferred to have personal conversations

with the seller since they are knowledgeable on their own product and they value

recommendations and suggestions directly.

TikTok Shop can easily access and encourage people to make a purchase because of its

usability attributes and more importantly it offers cheaper prices that can attract attention and

interest of buyers. However, the quality of the products received by the consumers does not

match its price (Jocks, Adinugroho, and Ferils, 2023). Price is not the only variable that is

capable of pushing people to make a purchase, a brand must also be able to build their own value

through quality of products and even delivery services (Sekarlingga & Hartono 2023). Since the

products are exclusively delivered to the consumers address, once the product arrives in not a

good condition, therefore they cannot feel the sense of satisfaction and fulfillment.

Consumers highly desire safe and on-time delivery that determines a smooth and easy

shipping transaction. However, (Sekarlingga and Hartono, 2023) mentioned that regularly

product deliveries have shortcomings, there are delays of service delivery that causes why the

product is received late and arrives not on the accurate and expected time. Also, due to the

insufficient delivery status or update information consumers do not have an exact tract of the

product’s location, therefore the consumers are not able to locate and identify the product’s

condition. More importantly, an elevated shipping amount which is more expensive than the

product itself can discourage consumers to continuously check-out the product.

While online shopping keeps growing the e-money transfer also flourished since it takes

the purpose of sending and paying money through online. Syahriya and Himawan (2022)

emphasizes that consumers encounter issues settling payment by means of utilizing e-money

transactions. Because internet theft is unpredictable, it enables consumers personal information

such as, address, e-mail address, credit card, debit card, and password to end up falling to the

wrong hands and using it without the owner’s consent.

Nevertheless, consumers encounter difficulties in remembering and recognizing notable

businesses' products as well as, creating a comparison between them that could be useful for

evaluating and analyzing their distinctive characteristics (Gesmundo et al., 2022). Primarily, it

must be utilized since it is an essential factor that allows consumers to identify and select the

suitable product they have been looking for.

Due to the significance of video promotions, content creators’ recommendations, and live

video broadcasting on TikTok several people are making impulsive purchases Edwy et. al as

cited by Andon and Annuar (2023). Thus, these videos carry on feeding the viewers page by

encouraging them to make a purchase without having a predetermined plan or intention to buy,

therefore consumers spend their money without any valuable reason.

 Sekarlingga, B. C., & Hartono, A. (2023). Analysis Of Factors That Influence Purchase

Intentions For Skintific Products Using Tiktok Shop Indonesia With Online Trust As Mediator

Variable. Asian Journal of Management, Entrepreneurship and Social Science, 3(03), 406-420.

http://www.ajmesc.com/index.php/ajmesc/article/view/438

James, Cordilia, & Julie Jargon. (2023). “Social-Media Shopping Scams Are Growing.

Young Adults Are the Targets.” Wall Street Journal, April 29.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/social-media-shopping-scams-1d0c4b5f

Ling, C., Gummadi, K. P., & Zannettou, S. (2023, June). " Learn the Facts About

COVID-19": Analyzing the Use of Warning Labels on TikTok Videos. In Proceedings of the

International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media (Vol. 17, pp. 554-565).

https://ojs.aaai.org/index.php/ICWSM/article/view/22168