TikTok isn’t being modest by calling it “the future of commerce”, yet this is not unfounded. Being the fastest-growing social media app, TikTok, with >2 billion downloads, has already surpassed Google as the most popular website, according to Cloudflare.
Sellers have speculated for years about TikTok’s upcoming shopping platform.
With this move, the social media giant is planning to transform itself into a large ecommerce player, rivaling Amazon and Walmart.
While this might sound audacious, people have shopped on TikTok for years, according to InsiderIntelligence.
TikTok numbers of 2022
- 27.3% of TikTok users are expected to buy products via the app.
- 7 in 10 TikTok shoppers are inclined to buy when noticing a product on the app.
- 6 in 10 use TikTok for shopping inspiration.
With around 2 billion users worldwide, this leads to a market of 546,000,000 active online shoppers.
China overtook the US in ecommerce sales via social media apps with over $432.10 billion in sales this year. Experts expect the US market to catch up and TikTok’s recent move might be a conclusive stepping stone in this direction.
Conclusion
TikTok has 7 times more users than Amazon and an algorithm to keep people engaged for hours. Amazon, on the other hand, has been falling behind in terms of innovation and ability to keep people on their site. We might be witnessing the beginning of a new era, in which a relatively cheap, but engaging video could generate millions of revenue for an online store.
