Mattel Opens TikTok Shop With Barbie, Hot Wheels Ahead of Holidays

Mattel launches a branded TikTok Shop storefront this week with roughly 20 products spanning Barbie, Hot Wheels, Fisher-Price and Monster High, and plans to expand the assortment to more than 40 products soon after.

The move puts Mattel into live commerce for the first time. Mina Zandbar, Mattel's vp of global e-commerce, told Modern Retail the company wants TikTok Shop for product discovery, engagement and education alongside its traditional retail channels. Mattel already runs a TikTok channel with 124,000 followers, and users discuss its products in videos and comments — but Mattel has never sold goods directly on the platform before. Zandbar said that by being on TikTok Shop, Mattel can "be with our community where they're looking for our brands."

Who is Mattel actually selling to?

Adults, not kids. TikTok requires account holders to be at least 13, so the strategy skews grown-up. "Little kids are not going to purchase products for themselves," Zandbar said. "It's [more so about] education for their parents." The launch assortment is curated to include products already mentioned in TikTok content, such as the Fisher-Price Soothe 'n Snuggle Otter.

Mattel's biggest properties bring their own audiences. Barbie counts 2.5 million TikTok followers; Hot Wheels counts 1.2 million. The storefront groups the brands under one umbrella, mirroring the Disney Store's approach on TikTok Shop, which launched this year with properties like "Star Wars" and "Frozen" under a single roof.

Mattel also wants TikTok Shop to serve as a first-purchase entry point. Shoppers could then buy more through Mattel's website or retail partners like Amazon, Walmart or Target, where the full merchandise range and the company's new loyalty program live. "Over time, you build that relationship with your consumers, in a much deeper way," Zandbar said.

What does this change for holiday retail?

The launch lands ahead of the Black Friday rush, and Mattel is not alone. Best Buy, Ulta Beauty and Sephora will all sell on TikTok Shop during their first winter on the platform. Nearly a third of U.S. TikTok users expect to buy a gift this Black Friday, per TikTok Shop data.

Much of Mattel's TikTok strategy will focus on product recommendations — videos answering questions like "Which toys are best for a newborn?" — plus livestreaming and partnerships with creators embedded in the toy community. Mattel will also lean into the "kidulting craze," courting what Zandbar called "a massive community of adults" who collect Hot Wheels and Monster High items.

The TikTok push follows Mattel's new loyalty program, Mattel Rewards, which lets members earn and redeem points for checkout discounts across four tiers that scale with annual spend. More than 25% of Mattel's consumers already belong. The two channels serve different, compatible functions: loyalty builds first-party data on order values and location, while TikTok Shop aids discovery but keeps transactions inside its own ecosystem. Both, Zandbar said, let Mattel "stay as close as you can to your community."

Launching during the holidays carries risk, but Zandbar framed it as an advantage. "I just believe the busiest time is going to give you massive data to understand what is truly working or not working," she said. "I want to make sure we are maximizing our learnings during the busiest time of the year."

The company enters the season from a position of some strength. Third-quarter net sales, for the quarter ended September, reached $1.807 billion, up 4% year over year, with operating income of $476 million, up $96 million. Action figures, building sets, games and Hot Wheels gained; Barbie and Fisher-Price declined. New CEO Roger Lynch, who took over in early November, set the agenda in an earnings release: "Our priorities are clear: strengthen our brands and win in toys, drive innovation and creativity, and invest with discipline to drive profitable growth." TikTok Shop is the first visible test of that playbook.