medicube
The revenue mix behind the no.1 shop on UK TikTok Shop, and the one channel it barely uses.
The teardown series
brands unplugged.
One shop at a time, taken apart from the outside. Same five chapters every edition, so the editions stack into something more useful than any one of them on its own: a comparable read on how TikTok Shop is actually being won.
Public data. Independent analysis. Nobody's permission asked.
16editions planned · edition 01 in final review
Why we publish these
the best teachers are the shops already winning.
You can read every guide written about TikTok Shop and still not know what a good shop looks like from the inside. The market data is there for anyone to buy. Almost nobody sits with it long enough to draw a conclusion. We do it anyway before we pitch a brand, so we may as well publish it.
outside-in, always
No brand covered gets a say, a preview or a veto. We read the shop the way we read a prospect's shop: mix first, content second, creators third, basket fourth, opinion last.
the same five chapters, every time
Comparable structure is the whole point. One edition is a story. Sixteen editions, cut the same way, is a map of the categories.
written by operators
By the team running LIVE, affiliate, content and paid on TikTok Shop every day, across 80+ brands and £100m+ of managed GMV. Not a content desk reading press releases.
The anatomy of an edition
five chapters, every edition.
Every teardown is cut the same way. It is what makes one edition useful and sixteen editions comparable.
01
shop performance mix
Where the revenue actually comes from: affiliate, self-operated LIVE, shop-front, ads. The mix is the diagnosis — it tells you which levers the brand owns and which it is renting.
02
top content & hooks
The formats and opening seconds doing the selling. Which hooks repeat, which are one-offs, and what the pattern says about who the shop is actually talking to.
03
affiliate strategy & commission
How the creator base is built, tiered and paid. Commission structure, sample strategy, who the repeat sellers are, and whether the programme compounds or churns.
04
product & bundle performance
Which SKUs carry volume, which carry the basket, and how bundling is being used to move average order value instead of discounting it away.
05
what to copy
The chapter that earns the read: what is genuinely transferable to your shop, what only works at their scale, and what we would do differently.
The editions
sixteen shops, one method.
Every edition is free the day it lands, and none have shipped yet: edition 01 on medicube is in final review, the other fifteen are in production. No date is promised — each publishes when the analysis is finished and worth your time.
1 in final review
15 in production, waitlist open
P.Louise
How a brand-owned LIVE room became a bigger share of the shop than most brands manage from every channel combined.
Dr.Melaxin
How a clinical-leaning skincare range translates ingredient claims into content that actually converts.
Shark
How a considered-purchase appliance range holds its price point on a platform built for impulse.
Ninja
How kitchen demo content turns a watchable product into a repeatable trading rhythm.
Bellavita
How a fragrance range sells a product the camera cannot show.
Made by Mitchell
How a founder-led cosmetics brand converts personality into a repeatable selling system.
Nutrition Geeks
How a sports nutrition range sells routine and repeat inside tight compliance rails.
Halara
How an activewear range answers fit and sizing inside the content instead of in the returns queue.
Wonderskin
How a visually distinctive product turns a single repeatable demo into a shop.
Yass Clean
How a low-consideration, high-repeat range turns watchable content into a habit.
Wellgard
How a supplement range builds trust first and sells the second bottle harder than the first.
L'Oréal
How a multi-brand beauty group runs a portfolio of TikTok Shop presences rather than a single shop.
Edikted
How a fast-moving womenswear range keeps a drop rhythm that gives shoppers a reason to come back.
Remington
How an established personal-care brand earns attention in a feed that rewards newness.
Ego
How an occasion-led fashion range trades against the moments its shoppers are actually buying for.
† Category shown is our working classification and is being confirmed for this edition.
The waitlist
tell me when the next teardown drops.
One email per edition. No drip sequence, no countdown timers, no "just circling back". Pick the shop you most want taken apart and we will send that one the day it publishes.
✓The full edition, free, as soon as it lands
✓Your pick counts as a vote on what we cut next
✓Unsubscribe in one click, we do not chase
We only use your details to send the editions you asked for. Privacy policy.
Method & independence
how these are built.
Method. Every edition is built outside-in from public market data — the same TikTok Shop market analytics any seller can buy — plus the operating judgement of a team that runs LIVE, affiliate, content and paid on the platform every day. We read the shop the way we would read a prospective client's shop, and we publish the read.
Independence. Brands Unplugged is independent commentary. No brand covered has any say over what is written, and coverage is not endorsement in either direction. Most of the brands in the series are third parties Somerce has no commercial relationship with. Three are not — P.Louise, Edikted and L'Oréal Groupe — and those editions disclose it at the top and link the work already published on this site. Figures, where quoted, come from a stated public data window and move over time.
FAQ
questions.
Are the brands covered Somerce clients?
Most are not: they are third parties Somerce has no commercial relationship with. Three in this series are the exception — P.Louise, Edikted and L'Oréal Groupe — and those editions disclose it at the top and link the work already published on this site. No brand covered, client or not, has any say over what is written.
Where does the analysis come from?
Public TikTok Shop market data, the same analytics any seller can buy, read by a team that runs LIVE, affiliate, content and paid media on the platform every day. Every edition states its data window.
When does the next edition publish?
There is no fixed schedule. An edition publishes when the analysis is finished and worth reading. Join the waitlist and you will hear the day it lands.
What does an edition cost?
Nothing. Every edition is free the day it publishes, and none have shipped yet — edition 01 on medicube is in final review, the rest are in production. The waitlist tells you the day one lands, and nothing arrives before then.
Can I ask for a brand to be covered?
Yes. Pick the closest edition on the waitlist and tell us the brand you actually want in the reply, or say so here. We read them.
want this run on your shop instead.
The same outside-in read, on your revenue mix, your cadence and your basket. Thirty minutes, free, no pitch unless you ask for one.
Book my teardown* Verified across Somerce-managed TikTok Shop accounts, methodology varies by metric, GMV as reported by TikTok Shop seller analytics.