TikTok, Amazon is on the clock

We reported last week on the ByteDance-owned video platform’s plan to challenge Google Search. Now, its eye is on a different prize – Amazon.

According to a series of LinkedIn job postings first reported on by Axios, TikTok is planning to build out a global network of fulfillment centers to handle warehousing, delivery, and customer service returns on behalf of e-commerce sellers.

🤑 The idea… is pretty obvious, once you know a) TikTok isn’t called TikTok in China and b) Douyin, aka the Chinese version of TikTok, is more than just a video platform – it’s a commerce-focused video platform. Per the Financial Times, Douyin hosts nine million live shopping broadcasts a month and sold over 10 billion products in a single year, from May 2021 to May 2022.

And while TikTok’s global fulfillment plan, outlined in the job postings, stops short of building its own transportation arm to handle delivery, overseeing that many parts of the online transaction could still mean significant revenue.

• Amazon’s cut ranges anywhere from 6% to 45% of each sale, plus additional fees on top.

📸 Big picture: TikTok launched a live shopping feature in the UK, its first market outside of Asia, in 2021… and things aren’t going so well. Poor sales, low consumer adoption, and internal company issues have all contributed to missed targets and influencers dropping out.