Pattern is moving aggressively to own the next wave of social commerce by acquiring NextWave, a fast-growing TikTok Shop agency that specializes in creator-led selling, live shopping, and affiliate growth.
Pattern bets big on TikTok Shop
The deal gives Pattern Group Inc. a deeper foothold in TikTok Shop at a time when social commerce is scaling quickly, and brands are racing to turn short-form content into measurable sales. Pattern, which trades on Nasdaq under ticker PTRN, positions itself as a global leader in marketplace acceleration powered by proprietary technology and AI, and this acquisition plugs a high-performance TikTok specialist directly into that engine. Deal terms were not disclosed, but the move is clearly aimed at helping brands reach new customers as TikTok Shop becomes one of the most powerful discovery-to-purchase channels in e-commerce.
Who is NextWave?
Founded in 2022 by CEO Grace Yang, NextWave has quickly become one of the highest-performing partners in the TikTok ecosystem. Headquartered in Los Angeles, with a team spanning Los Angeles and New York, the agency focuses on creator management, high-velocity content production, and end-to-end TikTok Shop growth for brands.
Crucially for retail, NextWave brings industry-leading TikTok Shop Partner (TSP) services and top-ranked Creator Affiliate Partner (CAP) capabilities, plus a network of more than 1,200 managed creators and more than 300,000 affiliates on TikTok. That scale gives fashion, beauty, and lifestyle brands immediate access to a deep bench of creators for seeding products, hosting lives, and driving affiliate sales, without having to build those relationships one by one.
What the acquisition adds for brands
By bringing NextWave in-house, Pattern can now combine creator-led demand with its marketplace data, fulfillment, and advertising infrastructure across TikTok Shop, Amazon, Walmart, and more than 60 global marketplaces. That means brands can plug into a single partner to manage everything from creator sourcing and live selling to inventory, paid media, and attribution, closing the loop between viral content and actual cart conversion. The integrated offer is designed to help brands grow faster and more efficiently as creators increasingly shape how consumers discover beauty, fashion, home, and lifestyle products online.
In the announcement, Pattern Co-founder and CEO Dave Wright said, “NextWave has built one of the most effective TikTok Shop and creator-commerce organizations in the industry,” adding that the combined teams are “uniquely positioned to become a leading force in social selling.” NextWave Founder and CEO Grace Yang said, “NextWave was built to help brands win in the new era of social commerce,” and explained that joining Pattern lets her team scale their TikTok Shop expertise and creator network with Pattern’s global reach and AI-driven marketplace infrastructure.
Why this matters for retail and fashion brands
For retail and fashion labels that have struggled to turn TikTok buzz into repeatable revenue, the Pattern–NextWave combination offers a full-funnel solution grounded in data and operational rigor. Brands can tap into NextWave’s creator community for authentic storytelling and live selling while using Pattern’s technology to standardize pricing, protect channel integrity, and optimize inventory across marketplaces.
With more than 1,200 creators and 300,000 affiliates already in the NextWave network, fashion, beauty, and lifestyle brands now have a scaled pathway into TikTok Shop that goes beyond one-off influencer campaigns.
What’s next for Pattern’s social commerce play
Looking ahead, Pattern plans to use its proprietary data and AI to connect the dots between creator content, social engagement, and marketplace performance, so brands can see exactly which videos, lives, and affiliates drive profit across channels. As TikTok Shop matures and more retailers test live selling and creator storefronts, expect Pattern to position itself as the end-to-end operating system for social commerce, from product seeding to post-purchase analytics. For brands, the message is clear: the next phase of ecommerce growth will be creator-led, and Pattern’s acquisition of NextWave signals that this shift is no longer experimental—it is a core strategy.
