The question "which marketplace should I sell on" no longer has a single answer — and less and less is it an answer of "choosing just one". Brazilian e-commerce continues to expand steadily, with marketplaces adding up to R$182 billion in GMV and 31% growth in the sector (source: BXTData), led by Mercado Livre and Shopee fighting for the top, while TikTok Shop grows at an accelerated pace as a different sales format.

The fundamental difference lies in purchase intent. On Mercado Livre, the consumer already knows what they want and is comparing price and delivery time — it is search-based selling. On Shopee, the behavior mixes search with a bit of discovery via coupons and aggressive promotions. On TikTok Shop, the sale is born from content: the person was not looking for that product, but the video sparked the desire to buy right then and there — TikTok itself calls this "discovery shopping", a model whose sales have already grown 26 times in five months on the platform (source: TikTok Newsroom).

This means the three channels do not compete for exactly the same kind of sale — they complement each other. A product that already sells well through search (Mercado Livre or Shopee) can get a second wind of sales when it gains traction in video on TikTok Shop, and vice versa: a product that goes viral on TikTok creates search demand on the other marketplaces later.

For those deciding where to put energy first, the practical answer usually depends on the product's format: highly visual items with demonstrative appeal (beauty, fashion, household gadgets, pet) tend to perform better on TikTok Shop. Items involving more rational decisions, such as high-ticket electronics or recurring purchases, still benefit more from the search logic of traditional marketplaces.

The ideal, whenever possible, is to operate on the right channels for each type of product — and to use real data from each platform to decide where to prioritize investment and stock.

Track the performance of TikTok Shop products and shops on Vellum Lens and make that decision based on numbers, not intuition.