The news: TikTok owner ByteDance is reportedly looking to launch an international ecommerce platform, per job postings reviewed by Insider.
What we know: This venture will be separate from TikTok’s ecommerce partnerships with big names like Shopify and Walmart.
- Those tie-ups let sellers reach customers through TikTok, but sellers can’t set up shop directly on the app—yet.
- The new job postings indicate ByteDance is now looking to let independent merchants sell through a company-built platform.
The platform will likely be focused on cross-border retail—primarily, shipping Chinese goods to other markets like the US.
- Per our forecast, cross-border ecommerce is steadily growing in popularity in the US, with 64.7 million people ages 14 and older taking part in it this year—more than a fifth (23.3%) of the population.
What we don’t know: So far, it’s still unclear whether the platform will be standalone or integrated into the TikTok app. Either approach would have different implications:
If the platform was integrated into TikTok proper, it would be the culmination of ByteDance’s long-standing effort to establish itself as a leader in the US social commerce space.
- Douyin, TikTok’s Chinese counterpart, already has a strong domestic ecommerce presence. The next logical step for ByteDance would be to take the lessons it has learned in the developed Chinese social commerce space and apply them to growing markets like the US.
- For context, we expect that US social commerce sales will grow by 35.8% this year to $36.62 billion.