Heidi, Marc, Charli and Dixie D’Amelio at the D’Amelio Shoes pop-up on Shopify in New York City
Shopping
Charli D’Amelio is the second-most-followed creator on TikTok. The 19-year-old former competitive dancer and her sister Dixie have made tens of millions of dollars on TikTok.
But D’Amelio isn’t sure how long she’ll be able to deliver viral clips to her 152 million followers. That’s because a bill supporting a possible ban on TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, is about to be submitted to the House of Representatives and has already received support from President Joe Biden.
Uncertain of which way the political winds are blowing, D’Amelio is looking to establish his influence elsewhere.Her latest endeavor is with Shopping Bringing her family’s online shoe brand to brick-and-mortar stores.
“You have to remember, social media comes and goes,” D’Amelio said in an interview Friday at Shopify’s D’Amelio footwear pop-up store in New York. “There are new applications, there are new people, there are exciting new trends. You’re not always first in line on everything.”
D’Amelio and other family members spoke to CNBC at the store’s opening. Given the political and national security concerns surrounding TikTok, creators are looking at other ways to sell their brands.
“Creating a brand … gets you out of trouble,” said Marc D’Amelio, Charlie’s father and CEO of D’Amelio Brands. “It’s a hamster wheel and it gets you off the hook. And you’re less dependent on the platform.”
Members of the House Select Committee on Chinese Communist Party introduced a bill last week that would require ByteDance to divest TikTok or face a U.S. ban. The committee voted 50-0 on Thursday to send the bill to the House floor. Biden said Friday he would sign the bill if Congress passes it.
Although TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew has denied any links between the app and the Chinese Communist Party, U.S. regulators and lawmakers have expressed concerns about the company’s Chinese ownership and the possibility of sharing user data at government requests.
“There’s definitely a little bit of fear when it comes to social media because you never know what’s going to happen next,” Charli D’Amelio said.
D’Amelio became popular on TikTok in 2019 and was named the platform’s highest-paid creator two years later via Forbes. The magazine said she and her sister earned a combined $27.5 million that year.
On TikTok, users can earn money through the app’s creative program, a rewards system for popular videos that are longer than one minute. Creators can also earn income through brand cooperation and affiliate sales on TikTok Shop, and followers can send “gifts” to users during live broadcasts.
Since the family’s rise to fame, members have appeared on the Hulu reality show “The D’Amelio Show,” which just completed its third season. The sisters have also collaborated with various fashion brands such as Prada, Burberry and Puma.
Shopify sign outside The Well building on Spadana Avenue in Toronto.
Lance MacMillan | Toronto Star | Getty Images
In September 2022, the family launched D’Amelio Brands, whose products include D’Amelio Footwear and popcorn line Be Happy Snacks. The business raised $6 million in seed funding in 2022 from big names including Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin, entrepreneurs Richard Rosenblatt and Eddy Cue, apple Senior Vice President of Services.Last year it raised $5 million Fifth Growth Fund.
The D’Amelio family has partnered with Shopify to bring its shoes to pop-up events in Los Angeles and New York. Shopify powers stores through the company’s point-of-sale system.
Shopify said the next step for D’Amelio Brands is to open a permanent brick-and-mortar store to bridge the gap between the digital creator economy and the physical retail world.
Shopify reports that offline sales have increased fivefold since 2019, indicating a significant change in consumer behavior.
“Fans really want to experience the brand, meet the creators, touch and feel the products,” Jessica Williams, director of brand partnerships at Shopify, said in an interview.
In 2023, Shopify offline sales will reach US$441 million Revenue $7.1 billion, which is slightly more than 6% of the total. This includes revenue from payments, subscriptions and point-of-sale hardware.
watch: TikTok’s crackdown intensifies
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