During its Small Business Month showcase event, TikTok released new insights into the app's impact on small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the United States. As part of the event, TikTok met with several SMB owners in New York to introduce the platform's expanding opportunities and highlighted how New York-based SMBs are achieving success on the platform.

According to research conducted by GlobalData, TikTok stated that two-thirds of U.S. TikTok Shop users have discovered new brands on the platform, while small businesses with annual revenue below $15 million benefit the most from TikTok's brand discovery features.

Citing the data, TikTok said: "From early experimentation to breakthrough growth, TikTok provides small businesses with the opportunity to reach millions of U.S. users and scale. In fact, searches for 'small business' grew by 479% in the first quarter of 2026. Additionally, 89% of SMBs reported an increase in sales after promoting their business on TikTok."

The research also showed:

  • Of the brands newly discovered by TikTok Shop users over the past year, 72% were small businesses.
  • Eight out of ten TikTok Shop users said they have discovered more small brands since using the platform.
  • 57% of users purchased from a new brand within days of discovering it, while 90% made a purchase within a month.

TikTok stated that TikTok Shop merchants represent a new generation of business owners who leverage creativity, authenticity, and community-driven storytelling to grow their brands.

TikTok further noted: "When brands show up with ad placements and genuine engagement, they become part of the cultural conversation driving purchase decisions: in fact, 73% of users say they feel a deeper connection to brands they interact with on TikTok, and 81% say the platform helps them discover new topics and trends they didn't know they'd like. This discovery has a compounding effect: 45% of users continue searching on TikTok after discovering new content, extending the engagement window far beyond a single interaction."

TikTok said these figures highlight the platform's growing value to U.S. small and medium-sized businesses. Alongside its evolving AI-driven advertising tools, TikTok appears to be creating more opportunities for people to turn passion projects into careers.