TikTok Shop in the Benelux: what brands should reconsider in creator campaigns

TikTok Shop brings content and conversion closer together

15 June 2026 marked an important date for the creator economy in the Benelux. On this day, TikTok Shop launched in the Netherlands and Belgium, alongside Poland and Austria. According to TikTok’s official launch announcement, they introduced shoppable in-feed videos, live shopping and a dedicated Shop tab, making it possible for consumers to discover and purchase products without leaving the platform.

One of the biggest changes for creators is the introduction of TikTok Shop’s affiliate programme. By promoting selected products through their content, creators can earn commission on every sale they generate. While affiliate commission itself is not new to influencer marketing, TikTok Shop integrates this commercial incentive directly into the platform and purchase journey. This changes the context in which product recommendations are made, particularly when authenticity and trust play an important role in the relationship between creators and their audiences.

Brands were quick to recognise the commercial potential. Nikkie Plessen, CEO of N BRANDS and one of TikTok Shop’s Dutch launch partners, described the model as a way to explore how “entertainment driven commerce” could help the brand reach consumers in a more authentic and interactive way.

This closer connection between creator recommendations and conversion also brings new considerations for brands, particularly around transparency.

Two weeks later, Dutch disclosure rules changed

Two weeks after the TikTok Shop launch, the Dutch rules changed too. On 1 July 2026, the updated Reclamecode Social Media & Influencer Marketing (RSM) came into effect. The updated rules require ‘relevante relaties’ such as affiliate links, discount codes and commissions to be clearly disclosed. This also applies when creators receive other benefits, such as gifted products or invitations to events. To protect consumers, this disclosure must be instantly visible, appearing as the first word or at least in the first sentence of the content. It also needs to be repeated on every platform and in every individual Story, so consumers can immediately recognise when a creator receives a benefit. The updated RSM also includes UGC-creators and provides additional guidance on virtual influencers.

One part of the updated RSM deserves particular attention from brands: Article 6 places responsibility on the advertiser. Brands are required to inform creators about the RSM, for example through agreements or campaign terms, and must actively guarantee compliance with the rules.

The importance of this active responsibility became clear in a recent case reviewed by the Reclame Code Commissie. An independent Brand Partner promoted supplements through Instagram and received commission based on her sales. The College van Beroep ruled that this financial incentive created a ‘relevante relatie’ within the RSM.

Even though the advertiser had contractual rules, factsheets and compliance training in place, that was not enough. Article 6 also required active efforts to ensure compliance and intervention once rules were breached.

For brands working with TikTok Shop creators, the implication is clear: compliance cannot simply be left to the creator. Brands need to actively take responsibility for how their products are promoted and ensure disclosure requirements are addressed before content goes live.

Product selection becomes more important in campaign strategy

A correct disclosure makes the ‘relevante relatie’ transparent, but it is only one part of a responsible creator partnership. What the creator recommends, and whether the product meets consumers’ expectations, matters too.

That is exactly one of the concerns the Consumentenbond raised before the Dutch TikTok Shop launch. On 28 May 2026, the organisation warned that the short step between seeing a product and buying it directly could encourage impulse purchases. With TikTok’s algorithm determining which products users see, consumers may also take less time to compare prices, reviews and alternatives. This can give the recommendation they see in a creator’s content more weight in their buying decision.

A few months after the launch, the Consumentenbond tested ten products promoted through TikTok Shop and found five of them disappointing, raising concerns ranging from misleading product claims to product quality and safety.

This makes the creator’s role in the buying journey particularly relevant. When someone buys a product after seeing it recommended by a creator they already follow, their experience with that product can also shape how they view the recommendation itself. If the product disappoints, they may think twice about the creator’s next recommendation.

Product selection therefore deserves careful consideration in TikTok Shop campaigns. Beyond sales potential, brands should consider whether a product genuinely fits the creator and their audience, and whether the product matches the claims and expectations communicated in the recommendation.

Belgium enters social commerce with an existing disclosure challenge

A European monitoring sweep published by FOD Economie in February 2024 showed that clear disclosure was already a challenge before TikTok Shop entered the Belgian market. Across Europe, 80% of the 576 influencers reviewed did not consistently disclose their commercial content. Among the 31 Belgian influencers included, this applied to 90%.

Across Europe, 40% of the influencers reviewed also promoted their own products, services or brands without consistently identifying this as advertising, while 30% did not provide any business information.

The Belgian figures should be viewed in context, because only 31 Belgian influencers were included and the monitoring took place more than two years before TikTok Shop launched in the country. They therefore cannot tell us how Belgian creators are approaching TikTok Shop today, but do show that transparency around commercial content was already an issue before its launch.

Transparency becomes especially valuable as TikTok Shop creates more opportunities for commission-based partnerships. At the Belgian launch, Edouard Wattel, VP Digital & E-Commerce at Samsonite Europe, described TikTok Shop as a way to reach additional audiences and turn inspiration into conversion more quickly. As brands explore that potential, clear agreements about affiliate disclosures should become a standard part of creator partnerships from the start, rather than something that needs to be addressed afterwards.

When sales are the goal, follower count tells only a part of the story

Transparency is not the only consideration at the start of a campaign. Creator selection also changes when working with a commission-based model.

In traditional influencer marketing campaigns, a large reach can already provide value through visibility and awareness. With TikTok Shop, part of that value is directly connected to whether the audience can convert. A follower outside the market in which a product is available may contribute to reach, but is less relevant to sales within that market.

This makes audience geography more important. Meroda, one of TikTok Shop’s Dutch launch partners, is an interesting example. According to Kolsquare data from 4 September 2026, 73.0% of its Instagram audience is based in the Netherlands and 14.7% in Belgium, bringing its total Benelux audience share to 87.7%.

The difference becomes even more interesting when looking at Dutch creators who have worked with Meroda.

All figures: Kolsquare, 4 September 2026.

The platform differences are particularly visible for Vivian Hoorn. Despite having more than seven times as many followers on Instagram, 76.0% of her TikTok audience is based in the Benelux, compared with 32.8% on Instagram. Her average EMV per post is also higher on TikTok (€31,983) than on Instagram (€18,810), despite the much smaller follower count. On TikTok, reach is not tied to follower count in the same way, as the For You feed allows content to be distributed well beyond a creator’s existing audience. A similar platform difference is visible for Elise Boers, whose TikTok audience has a considerably higher Benelux share than her Instagram audience (Kolsquare, 4 September 2026).

Follower count alone becomes less informative in an affiliate model. When commission depends on actual sales, the share of an audience that can realistically become customers matters too. This becomes even clearer when looking at creators with a much larger international audience. NikkieTutorials, for example, has 9.2 million TikTok followers, but only 5.1% of her audience is based in the Netherlands (Kolsquare, 4 September 2026). A large international audience can be highly valuable for awareness, but scale and strong local reach are two different things.

Creator selection should therefore start with the campaign objective rather than follower count alone. When sales are the goal, audience geography, credibility and category fit become just as important as reach. A creator with a smaller but highly engaged local audience brings a different kind of value than one with a much larger international following.

5 changes to make before your next TikTok Shop creator campaign

TikTok Shop does not necessarily require completely new creator agreements, but commission-based campaigns do call for clearer expectations. Several points should be addressed in the brief before a campaign starts.

Make disclosure part of the deliverable. Tell the creator how the collaboration needs to be disclosed in the content. With affiliate partnerships, it has to be clear that the creator can earn commission. Simply referring to ‘my link’ is not enough to make that financial benefit clear.

Make a team member responsible for checking. Article 6 of the RSM makes clear that responsibility for compliance does not lie with the creator alone. Assign someone on the brand side to check whether published content meets the agreed requirements and disclosure rules. Tools such as Kolsquare’s Creator Compliance Score can support this process by helping brands assess how consistently creators follow transparency and disclosure requirements.

Check products before creators promote them. Creators should be able to trust that the products they recommend live up to the claims and expectations communicated in the campaign. Testing products beforehand gives brands the opportunity to identify potential problems before a creator puts their own credibility behind the recommendation.

Think about the amount of affiliate content. More shoppable content does not automatically generate better results. Set clear limits on the amount of affiliate content published within a specific campaign period to maintain a balance between commercial and other creator content.

Measure sales and sentiment separately. TikTok Shop makes sales directly measurable, but sales do not tell the whole story. Looking at conversions alongside comments, audience sentiment and other campaign results provides a more complete picture of both commercial performance and how the collaboration is received by the audience.

Making creator compliance measurable

As a B Corp-certified company, Kolsquare has made Responsible Influence one of its four core values. Its Creator Compliance Score reflects that approach by giving brands insight into how consistently creators follow transparency and disclosure requirements. Rather than treating compliance as a final check before content goes live, it therefore becomes a measurable part of how brands select and monitor creators throughout a campaign.