Many cross-border sellers have dreamed of skyrocketing traffic and overnight success during Black Friday. However, TikTok Shop's sudden advertising policy changes in the U.S. market have poured cold water on these aspirations. With the 2025 Black Friday promotion approaching, the platform announced mandatory GMV Max ad placements, leaving sellers questioning whether this represents an opportunity or a challenge.
TikTok Shop's New Advertising Rule: Mandatory GMV Max Placement
TikTok Shop's U.S. division has declared that starting November 6, 2025, participating Black Friday promotion products will be subject to compulsory GMV Max ad placements. This means if sellers register for Black Friday promotions but don't actively create GMV Max ads, the platform will automatically generate ad plans within three days and launch them when Black Friday begins. Simultaneously, sellers' existing manual ads and other non-GMV Max ad types will be forcibly discontinued.
The core change in this policy lies in the platform removing sellers' freedom to choose ad placements, transforming voluntary selection into semi-mandatory implementation. TikTok Shop explains that its system will analyze ROI target benchmarks for similar products in the market based on factors including country, industry, product type, and time period, then generate recommended ad plans accordingly.
Challenges for Sellers and Potential Solutions
Despite the platform's seemingly reasonable explanation, this automated approach has raised concerns among many sellers, particularly regarding ad budget control and ROI management. Sellers worry that if the system-generated ad plans prove unreasonable, Black Friday sales profits might be offset by high advertising costs, potentially leading to losses.
In response to these concerns, TikTok Shop has provided some flexibility. Sellers can still modify parameters like ROI targets, budgets, and product selections, or opt out of the promotional mode entirely. However, the platform clearly warns that products with disabled ads or no independent placements will forfeit all promotional benefits, including subsidies and exposure opportunities.
Essentially, sellers must accept the GMV Max model if they want to access TikTok Shop's Black Friday traffic advantages. From a positive perspective, this adjustment could help combat copycat selling practices and encourage more refined product selection strategies, moving away from the previous "spray and pray" approach to product listings.
ERP Solutions: Helping Sellers Navigate GMV Max for Black Friday Success
Facing the upcoming Black Friday promotion, TikTok Shop's new ad policy presents significant challenges. Sellers must quickly adapt to the new ad placement mechanism while ensuring marketing effectiveness during the crucial sales period. Specialized ERP solutions have emerged to help sellers manage these changes effectively:
- Intelligent GMV Max Ad Monitoring: Advanced systems allow real-time tracking and flexible adjustments of GMV Max campaigns, enabling sellers to pause, activate, or modify budgets and ROI targets as needed.
- Real-time Performance Analytics: Comprehensive monitoring of key metrics including ad spend, GMV, and ROI helps sellers quickly assess campaign health and make data-driven decisions.
- Automated Reporting: One-click report generation facilitates team collaboration and financial reconciliation, allowing sellers to focus on core business growth.
- Precise Profit Calculation: Automated tracking of platform fees enables accurate net profit calculations, helping sellers maintain cost control during high-volume periods.
- Influencer Management: Integrated content marketing tools help optimize creator collaborations, creating synergy with ad placements to maximize overall marketing impact.
Comprehensive Data Support for Strategic Operations
Beyond advertising management, robust data analysis capabilities enable sellers to implement more strategic operations. By examining sales data, customer behavior patterns, and product performance metrics, sellers can better understand market demands, optimize product offerings, and enhance user experiences to stand out in competitive markets.
While TikTok Shop's policy adjustment creates short-term adaptation pressures, it may ultimately improve platform traffic distribution and operational efficiency. To succeed, sellers will need sophisticated operational strategies supported by powerful tools that provide complete visibility from ad management through profit calculation.