Video content platform TikTok is planning to more than quadruple the size of its worldwide e-commerce operations to as much as USD 20 billion in merchandise sales in 2023, with growth in Southeast Asia said to be the driving force.
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According to a Bloomberg report, the Byte Dance-owned TikTok is specifically homing in on markets like Indonesia for the exponential increase in sales, which compares to last year’s USD 4.4 billion in gross merchandise value.
That figure represents the worth of total goods sold through its online marketplace, TikTok Shop, which lets customers purchase goods through links on the app during live broadcasts.
The company is also working to expand its sales in the US and Europe, the report added, following news last year that Tik Tok had decided not to proceed with plans to expand its live e-commerce effort to Europe and the U.S.
The United Kingdom market was the company’s first endeavour outside of Asia where the TikTok Shop feature was introduced in 2021.
The Bloomberg news report comes as the Chinese-owned company faces crackdowns from both governments and regulators alike on concerns that China could use the app to take user data or advance its interests.
According to Euromonitor International, sales from social commerce are predicted to reach USD 4 trillion by 2024 – double that of 2019’s USD 2 trillion.