Bytedance, the company that owns TikTok, is rolling out a new one international shopping platform. The service, which will compete with Alibaba’s Amazon and AliExpress, could be released as a separate app or integrated with TikTok. At the moment, we don’t know which of the two options will be the one chosen by the company. What is certain is that the new e-commerce will focus on selling products made in China to buyers from other countries.
Bytedance launches a shopping platform of only Chinese products
The news that Bytedance was working on an e-commerce for compete with Amazon and Alibaba seems to be confirmed by a series of job advertisements appeared on the company’s website. The open positions concern exclusively e-commerce and almost all report the indication: “TikTok is an ideal platform to offer our users a new and better e-commerce experience”. In fact, according to the announcements, the company plans to integrate independent sellers on a platform that could be similar to AliExpress.
In fact, Bytedance has already started investing in a national e-commerce strategy and launched its own mobile payment service in January. The new project, therefore, would represent its first major foray into the online shopping outside of China. “They are definitely dying to be in e-commerce. Most Chinese entrepreneurs think that Western e-commerce is lagging behind China. They think this trend can be stopped and that no one, aside from Amazon and Shopify, has really done anything, so I think they see it as a relatively open opportunity. ” So he commented Rui Ma, expert in the technology sector.
TikTok e-commerce challenges Amazon and Alibaba
Bytedance’s move comes right after Amazon has removed hundreds of Chinese sellers from its platform, accusing them of using fake reviews. Many of these traders, as you can imagine, are looking for an alternative option for sale. And theTikTok e-commerce it could prove to be the ideal solution. After all, many Chinese manufacturers are already using the App to reach customers in North America and Europe.
At the same time, the Chinese government it is also taking steps to promote the international industry of online shopping, including the opening of more “cross-border e-commerce zones”, where export taxes and other government taxes are reduced. In August, for example, the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Commerce announced that it would award approx $ 310,000 to Chinese traders for each online shop launched on the market. “Cross-border is, like, the hottest thing right now: everyone is trying to sell more directly from China.” And the Bytedance shopping platform is perfectly in line with this trend.
After all, the company has already started rolling out some ecommerce features on TikTok, including a Shopify integration that allows businesses to add a purchase card to their profiles. And while it’s still unclear how much users are willing to buy from the TikTok App, one thing is certain: Americans are becoming more and more comfortable shopping from foreign platforms. The US Customs and Border Protection revealed that the total volume of small packages imported to the United States And increased by 28% last year. And this can only be a great start for Bytedance e-commerce.