TikTok moves on e-commerce | WARC | The Feed

TikTok moves on e-commerce

In a move that will intensify its challenge to Facebook and quicken the trend of blending social media with e-commerce, TikTok has begun trialing in-app shopping in Europe.

TikTok’s parent company ByteDance will be hoping to mirror the huge success of TikTok’s Chinese equivalent, Douyin, which reportedly ran up $26 billion of online sales in its first year of operating.

The details

• TikTok has started working with sellers in several European markets, including the UK, to test ways of selling directly to the millions who use the short-video app.
• It has run a number of shopping campaigns previously, notably last year through collaborations with Walmart and Shopify, but the current tests by TikTok are said to be a run-up to launching a global in-app shopping service.
• News of the venture comes as major social media players globally are racing to capture a share of an online commerce market that, according to projections by eMarketer, will be worth $5 trillion in 2021. Facebook brought in improvements last year aimed at enhancing the shopping experience on its platform and on Instagram; Pinterest has also moved into e-commerce by directing buyers to sellers’ sites.

Key quote

 “TikTok has a lot of learnings from China and Douyin, but the dynamics and infrastructure in the international market are different so they need to make sure they [adapt]. “ Rui Ma, partner with Synaptic Ventures.

Sourced from Bloomberg