TrapStix is a Hip hop-themed lip balm brand.
It had 75 orders between when it first opened in 2018 and when founder, Aysia Hilliard, posted her first TikTok in July 2020.
Now, the Atalanta-based company has sold more than 50,000 units to date after a number of highly successful viral TikTok videos boosted sales.
Currently, Aysia, who was a teenager when she came up with the idea and is now just 20, still goes to school and operates the business on the side.
Aysia told Modern Retail: “TikTok had so much of my audience in one place, with the pandemic… so many people were on TikTok at that time on a daily basis.”
Aysia is part of a group of small businesses that are now building the majority of their sales by going viral on TikTok.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, Instagram and Facebook provided a platform for small brands to gain customers.
However, TikTok’s popularity rocketed during the pandemic.
At the end of 2019, monthly active users grew from 507 million to over 1 billion by September 2021.
Facebook’s monthly active users declined quarter over quarter for the first time in March 2022.
Therefore, small brands are taking their marketing and brand-building to TikTok.
Trapstix has 2.2 million likes, 96,000 followers, and videos with nearly a million views each.
The businesses’ reach is going over multi-million dollar retail brands like Gap, Kellogg, and even competitor ChapStick!
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