How a £40 TikTok Order Turned Into £10K a Week in Wholesale

[00:00:06] You're listening to Retail Disrupted, a podcast that explores the latest industry developments and the trends that will shape how we shop in the future. I'm your host, Natalie Berg. What if your next loyal customer doesn't find you on the high street, but they find you on TikTok? We're continuing our TikTok miniseries on today's episode.

[00:00:35] Now, earlier this week, you heard from Helen Rankin, the founder of Cheeky Wipes. She shared how they're using TikTok to engage customers, to answer questions, drive loyalty, and ultimately drive sales. Today, we're looking at a very different category. Malik Butchers is a family-run butcher shop based in Wolverhampton. They've had millions of views on TikTok, which has translated into real sales.

[00:01:00] They're seeing customers travel from as far as Australia to visit their counter. They're also selling fresh meat directly through TikTok Shop, and they're shipping to customers across the UK. So lots of learnings here for retailers. I know we're always talking about social commerce and the opportunities through live shopping in particular. I caught up with Manny Malik to learn how it all works and find out what other retailers can take from it.

[00:01:30] Manny, welcome to Retail Disrupted. It's great to be here and to learn more about Malik Butchers because you guys are very big on TikTok. Tell us a little bit more about yourself and the business. I think TikTok is an important place to start. So the business itself is a third-generation halal butcher. So my granddad started it off. He actually started off in what was British Kenya in the 60s. He emigrated over to the UK in the 70s, taught my dad how to cut meat. Small store in Wolverhampton.

[00:01:59] It was employing one person when my brother had it between 2009 and 2019. In 2020, he had this brainwave, invested a load of money in it, created what is now Malik Butchers, which is a three-in-one store. It's got a deli, a street food stall, and then it does all the premium items that we've got. And then on top of that, in the past six years, like you said, we took advantage of social media.

[00:02:25] And without being big-headed, probably one of the UK's most recognizable halal brands, at least halal meat for sure. Because of TikTok. Because of TikTok, because of social media. And then now because of TikTok Shop, we've actually got an extra revenue stream in a marketplace where we're able to sell our products. When you started out on TikTok, I know there's a lot of different ways you can show up, whether that's TikTok Shop or through creators or live shopping. How did you go about it? So the journey for me was quite organic. Look, it started off on the meta platforms.

[00:02:53] I was Facebook, Instagram, and I've always loved social media. Just creating funny videos, taking pictures, that kind of stuff, just from my own personal enjoyment, right? So I've been an avid social media believer. And I kind of tried to convince my brother that, look, marketing is massive on social media. It's a free platform. You can get out to people. You can go viral. So when he created this business and he put all his money in, I was like, look, I need to help you make this work.

[00:03:20] Because if we just rely on the locality and people in Wolverhampton, there's not going to be enough sales for you to get the money back that you've invested. So me and him came up with a strategy and I said, look, we're going to market this business on social media. So it started off on Instagram and then TikTok at that time, about six years ago, sort of came into my mind. But back then, people just saw it as a, oh, we make music and you do funny dances app, right? I think for me, I could see it growing. And I said to my brother, we need to get on TikTok. He was adamant. He was like, no, what?

[00:03:50] That stupid app for kids dancing one. I'm not going on that. I was like, look, we've got to give it a try. So we took a very different approach. Instead of us just talking about our products and, you know, doing boring infomercials, we actually started creating engaging content. So we created a series called the Halal Family Series, which is lighthearted, satirical, sort of like a sitcom type thing where we play up to these stereotypes that a lot of the far right worry about

[00:04:18] with the political climate that you've got around halal meat and Muslims in the UK. So we kind of became an authority, not just in the halal meat space, but also just as British Muslims. And the content that we created, it went viral so many times. You know, we've got videos that have had up to 9 million views. Oh, wow. TikTok famous. Yeah, a little bit. You know, I didn't want to say. But no, that exposure was massive. So it started off on the TikTok platform.

[00:04:45] And because we were doing so well on the TikTok platform, I was like, well, TikTok shop seems to be a big thing. And I had never bought off TikTok shop before I decided to actually be a seller on TikTok shop because I believed it, I saw it, and I saw the business opportunity. So for me, you know, I went two feet first, signed up to TikTok shop.

[00:05:09] And because we were already selling on our website as a business owner, if you are an e-commerce brand and you've got products and you're selling online, you've already got everything in place for TikTok shop. Yeah. All it is, is a different marketplace, a different platform. That's what it is. Yeah, they take commission, which they're naturally going to take because they're opening you up to a marketplace that you didn't have. Yeah. But for us, getting onto TikTok shop was massive because ultimately selling halal meat online is one thing. Selling it on TikTok shop is another thing.

[00:05:37] The TikTok journey has been interesting, amazing and massively fundamental to our growth. Yeah. And so when you're reaching customers through TikTok, how far are you shipping your products now? All throughout the UK. So UK wide. So we created our website about five years ago. So we'd had a couple of years of shipping out products to customers and we kind of understood how to do it. And then the TikTok platform itself, very easy to work with, not difficult.

[00:06:05] It's just the orders come in. We've actually invested into a digital infrastructure now, which combines our online orders and our TikTok orders. And it comes through so that the guys are processing it, just get it on one system. So it's super duper easy. Just getting out to customers. Like we say, anyone that can buy off the website, you can buy a TikTok shop. And we use a third party courier that ships all across the UK. So there's no limit at the moment. Yeah.

[00:06:31] And our customers still a little bit surprised because, I mean, I wouldn't expect that you can buy fresh meat on TikTok. So is there still an element of surprise? Yeah. That's part of the education process for me. As part of our venture into TikTok shop and online sales, it's explaining to the customer that, yes, this is possible. Because ultimately, everyone's bought into online shopping, right? But there's certain products that you've got a bit of a question mark. Like, hmm, how is that going to come through the post? Didn't know they did that. Yeah. So we have had to make videos. So if I just show you what we've got here.

[00:06:59] So we vacuum seal all the products. We then, and that keeps it fresher for longer. So the oxidization process slows down. And then the box is full of these ice packs that we have as well. And then it comes in sealed boxes with a courier service that's got an SLA of getting the meat from our location to your doorstep within 48 hours. Okay. And this has all been tested to last up to and beyond 72 hours, right? Okay. With non-refrigeration.

[00:07:28] So the fact is, yes, you can get fresh halal meat delivered to your door. It's going to come in good condition. You can eat it. It tastes great. And you can get great deals as well. Yeah. And have you found that it's also driving customers to your actual store? Of course. Yeah. That's so interesting. Tell us about that. 100%. So imagine this. We have a lot of customers now that will try our meat on TikTok shop and they'll buy, let's say, a sample of this stuff.

[00:07:55] Now, once they've tried the quality of it and they can see the uniqueness of it and innovation. So like I said, we're pioneers in the products. We're doing halal chicken sausages, halal beef bacon. That's wagyu pastrami right there. Once they've tried the product, now what's happening is they will either want to visit the store, which they do. They may want to go check out the website to see a range that's not available on TikTok shop. And I probably shouldn't say this because TikTok shop like us to keep our customers on TikTok shop. And we do. We don't encourage that they go away anywhere.

[00:08:22] But obviously, naturally, people will be like, oh, well, what else can I get from these guys? Yeah. But more importantly, so like a TikTok shop average order might be around 40, 50 quid, something like that. 40 quid. OK, great. We love that. But some of these guys that are buying are food business owners or know a food business. And they will now recommend to this food business, whether it's a restaurant, a takeaway or a cafe, especially when it comes to like the breakfast meats, you should buy your meat from Malik Butchers. Now, we've got a wholesale division, which is the largest part of our business.

[00:08:52] So all of a sudden, a 40 pound order on TikTok shop can turn into a 5,000 pound or 10,000 pound per week order for wholesale. Wow. So that's exactly how it's working. So TikTok shop leads into wholesale, but also just the TikTok platform. There is no outbound work that needs to be done. No outbound lead generation. We're not having to hustle or beg for clients. They're coming to us. And actually, we're in a privileged position of kind of saying to people, we're not sure we want to work with you guys. Yeah, that's a very privileged position. Amazing.

[00:09:21] And like I say, I've not been involved in a business that has that kind of pull and it's all down to social media. Amazing. Manny, thank you so much for taking the time to come on the podcast. No worries. Thank you for having me. Thank you for listening to Retail Disrupted. If you enjoyed this episode and would like to support the podcast, please leave a rating or review or share it with others. It really makes a difference.