Summary
- TikTok Shop achieved $64.3 billion in global sales in 2025, nearly doubling from the previous year, allowing sellers to set up shops without any followers.
- An entire AI-generated advertisement—featuring a virtual model, scripted dialogue, and a 10-second video—can be created using GPT Image 2, ChatGPT, and Google Flow's Gemini Omni for about a dollar or even less.
- CapCut is used for final edits and adding subtitles, while YouTube's Shopping affiliate program now allows access with just 500 subscribers.
TikTok Shop, the platform enabling users to buy and sell directly on TikTok, generated $64.3 billion in sales during 2025, nearly double from the prior year. The United States contributed $15.1 billion to this total, largely due to short, inexpensive videos featuring individuals showcasing products and explaining their benefits.
Previously, creating these videos required a person, a smartphone, good lighting, and multiple takes.
Now, you only need a product photo and three AI tools, most of which are free. Below is a straightforward workflow that requires no technical expertise, enabling you to kickstart your marketing journey.
Step 1: Obtain a quality product image
First, decide on the product you wish to sell. You have two choices: either select something you are passionate about or find trending items on TikTok Shop and download images of those. Obtain a clear photo of your product, whether it’s clothing, an accessory, or a gadget. If you are selling a specific item or are affiliated with a brand, use images from your supplier. Ensure to crop the image so only the product is visible, eliminating models, backgrounds, or watermarks.
In our example, we chose a green top for TikTok (vertical format) and a Ledger crypto wallet for YouTube (horizontal format).
The cropping of the image is crucial, as the AI will rely on this as the definitive representation of the product, making a clean reference essential for accurate results.
Step 2: Add a model to your product
This step is particularly important for clothing and accessories, which benefit from a human touch.
Use ChatGPT to upload the cropped image. For this, you should use GPT Image 2, which outperformed Google's Nano Banana 2 in terms of photorealism and fidelity during Decrypt's testing, ensuring your AI-generated ad appears genuine.
Next, envision the setting for your advertisement and create a prompt. You might say: "Generate a vertical 9:16 image of a Latina woman in her late 20s wearing this garment, posing for a casual photo in a bright apartment. Ensure all characteristics of the product are preserved exactly as shown in the reference image: shape, proportions, color, texture, stitching, and fit. Do not redesign or alter the product in any manner."
Adjust demographic details—like ethnicity, age, and body type—to align with your target audience. Change the context as needed: a gym for sportswear, a café for accessories, or a street corner for urban fashion. For non-clothing items, replace "wearing" with "holding" or "using."
If you want the model in a specific location, upload a second image of that setting and ask ChatGPT to integrate the subject from the first image into the second. For instance, we placed our model in a space station.
This method also works well with Google's Nano Banana 2, which is good at compositing. Reve is a cheaper alternative, but it may lose some prompt details, affecting product accuracy.
Step 3: Request a script from ChatGPT—in JSON format
Now, you require a script for a 10-second video. Instead of doing it yourself, let ChatGPT handle the marketing strategy. You might use a prompt like this:
"Act as a senior direct-response marketer. Write a 10-second script in English for a UGC-style video where the woman in the uploaded image speaks to the camera and promotes the attached product. The script should sound natural, hook the viewer in the first two seconds, mention a price of $20, and conclude with the call to action 'tap the shopping cart below.' Provide the script in JSON format suitable for Google Flow, detailing what occurs on screen, camera actions, and the exact dialogue for each segment of the 10 seconds."
The JSON format is vital, as video models, particularly from Google, adhere to structured timelines better than loose text, ensuring you receive the dialogue, gestures, and timing you specified. One note of caution: review the output carefully, as it may be so literal that if the timeline wraps up at second eight, the model could repeat an action to fill the remaining two seconds.
You can customize the script for each platform. In your prompt, suggest phrases like "The best top I've seen on my TikTok feed." If changing platforms, substitute “TikTok feed” with "on X," "in my Reels," or "on Shorts" depending on where the ad will run. Adjust the call to action accordingly: the shopping cart works for TikTok, "link in bio" for Instagram, and "check the pinned comment" for YouTube.
Step 4: Create the video using Google Flow
Access Google Flow and select Gemini Omni, which Google launched at I/O 2026 in May. This tool can produce clips up to 10 seconds long with native audio, meaning your model will actually speak the dialogue provided, and it allows for reference images, which is essential here.
Although Google Veo may also work well, Omni is more economical, and we prefer cost-effectiveness.
Upload both reference files: the generated model image and the cropped close-up of the product. Paste the JSON script into the prompt box. Choose vertical 9:16 for TikTok, Reels, and Shorts, or horizontal 16:9 for standard YouTube videos and pre-roll ads.
Now, regarding costs: Flow offers non-subscribers 50 free credits daily, but Google's support documentation limits these to the Veo 3.1 models.
Using Omni in Flow (which we recommend) requires a paid Google AI plan. The Plus plan ($7.99 monthly) provides 200 credits, the Pro plan ($19.99) offers 1,000, while the two Ultra tiers offer 10,000 and 25,000 credits respectively.
However, there is a genuinely free option: Google has made Omni available at no cost within YouTube Shorts and the YouTube Create app for users aged 18 and above. For reference, the developer API prices Omni at around $0.10 per second of video—approximately a dollar per clip.
Every Omni video includes Google's invisible SynthID watermark, indicating it is AI-generated. While this watermark is not visible on screen, platforms can detect it, so do not plan on misleading viewers about the authenticity of the footage.
Here is the Ledger ad video we created. Keep in mind that generating video can yield random outcomes, as creativity is crucial for these models. If the first attempt is unsatisfactory, try generating a few more.
If you encounter any issues that can be corrected in post-production, you don’t need to use additional credits. There are free tools available to trim video sections, adjust lighting, color, etc.
For instance, in this TikTok ad, the model repeats the call to action. We need to rectify that, which will be covered in the next step.
Step 5: Refine in CapCut
Export the video and open it in CapCut. This platform allows you to correct any anomalies—AI-generated videos can occasionally include extra phrases or repeating gestures—and you can trim the clip precisely to your liking before sharing it on your social channels.
Pay attention to subtitles. The animated, word-by-word caption styles that dominate TikTok are available through CapCut Pro, which costs about $7.99 monthly or $59.99 annually, while the free version limits automatic captions. Manual captioning remains free, so if you have the time, you can enter your own text.
The TikTok ad ultimately appeared as follows after we adjusted the call to action:
Exploring Further
This workflow yields satisfactory results, though not at an agency standard. Once you master it, you may want more control: consider ElevenLabs for consistent branding across numerous videos, Kling for persistent AI avatars, motion control tools, node-based workflows like ComfyUI for detailed scene manipulation, and n8n for automation, among others.
Each addition incurs costs and complexity, but the basic process outlined is sufficient to test whether a product will sell before making significant investments.
To sell on TikTok Shop, you need to meet minimal requirements—simply be 18 or older with a government-issued ID and matching bank details, and approval typically takes three days. TikTok charges a 6% referral fee on most sales. To promote others' products as an affiliate, you must have 1,000 followers to apply, while full access requires 5,000 followers and 30 days in the program.
YouTube has lowered the barrier further: As of March, its Shopping Affiliate program is available to creators in the Partner Program with only 500 subscribers in 12 countries, including the U.S. and Brazil.
Both TikTok and YouTube allow AI-generated promotional content, but creators and advertisers must disclose the methods used for content creation and any commercial affiliations. According to TikTok’s AI-generated content policy, realistic AI-generated images, audio, or video must be labeled; advertisers running non-Spark ads must also enable the “This ad contains AI-generated content” option in TikTok Ads Manager, and anyone promoting a brand, product, or service must activate TikTok’s commercial content disclosure setting.
YouTube requires creators to indicate “Yes” under “AI use” when a video features realistic content created or significantly altered by AI, after which an AI label is applied; sponsored or commercially influenced videos must also utilize the platform’s paid-promotion disclosure.
X’s Authenticity policy prohibits synthetic or manipulated media when deceptively presented and potentially causing widespread confusion or harm, while its advertising rules necessitate that ads are honest, lawful, and consistent with the promoted product. It does not explicitly prohibit the use of AI-generated images, videos, or audio in promotional materials.
However, a sobering statistic to consider before quitting your job: Camille Moore, president of the marketing agency Third Eye Insights, noted that out of 803,500 TikTok Shop stores in the U.S. last year, over half reported no sales. The tools may be nearly free, but competition is fierce.