.png)
TikTok may seem like an unstoppable global entertainment machine, but at least one part of the company's offering hasn't completely taken hold, as TikTok works to scale back direct commerce plans in Europe and the United States, the Financial Times reports.
TikTok has been testing live shopping in the UK since late last year, starting with a multi-brand event called "On Trend" last December. Tik Tok Shop's early projects have pulled out completely.
TikTok had been planning to launch Shop in Germany, France, Italy and Spain so far, and had hoped to launch it in the US later this year, but has now told FT that it is currently only focused on making the product work in the UK, and it lives in several countries. In Asia, where the concept is more mature, The Verege reports.
Online shopping led by creators and influencers is a huge business for TikTok owner, ByteDance.
Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, also owned by ByteDance, has seen these direct sales turn into mega cultural events that bring big business to retailers, creators and platforms alike.
But there is not much evidence to suggest that the live e-commerce model will work everywhere. Of course, QVC and the home shopping network have made huge successes in the US, more and more users are buying products through Instagram, Tik Tok and YouTube, but many platforms have tried to make shopping Direct works and none of them work.
In addition, as social shopping continues to grow, the competition to be home to such shopping will be fierce, with even Amazon investing heavily in shopping flows.
And there's no doubting TikTok's commitment to the idea, either: The company has been building and testing personalized shopping experiences for over a year, and is currently testing the TikTok Shop tab in the app in Indonesia.