According to reports, TikTok and TalkShopLive are expected to ink a contract for a live shopping platform in the US.
TikTok is a video-sharing app that lets users publish quick videos (up to 15 seconds long) that are usually created while the creator is lip-syncing to the music. A variety of editing tools, including Snapchat-like augmented reality effects and the ability to speed up and slow down the video, can then be used to improve these films. There is also room for user cooperation; if you comment on a video, you can make collaborative videos on a split screen. There are certain creators who have millions of fans. Despite rumours that it has given up, the Chinese short-form video app TikTok is still working on its goal to provide live shopping in the US. The Financial Times said that the platform is seeking to partner with TalkShopLive to introduce live shopping options in the US.
Walmart and Microsoft’s MSN use the Los Angeles-based live shopping platform TalkShopLive for their live streams. According to the article, TikTok might make use of TalkShopLive’s technology to let creators stage live shopping events on its own platform. The business might introduce live shopping throughout this holiday season. TikTok issued a statement stating that it is “constantly investigating new and different ideas for how we may best serve our community, creators, and merchants in markets throughout the world.” The Chinese short-form video app continued to dominate the App Store and Google Play combined in the third quarter of this year as the highest grossing non-game app globally. Consumer spending on TikTok reached about $914.4 million this quarter, boosting its overall revenue to over $6.3 billion, according to a Sensor Tower research. “TikTok was the top-grossing non-game app on the App Store, while Google One, which kept the top spot on Google Play with just over $330 million, finished in second,” it added. Currently, TikTok allows users to purchase goods, but only through sponsored posts from businesses. Penguin Random House and TikTok recently teamed so that whenever users discuss one of the publisher’s books in a post, they may include a link that leads to a specific website with details on the book. Other businesses have been interested in social media e-commerce. Facebook Marketplace was introduced in 2016 by Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram. A few years later, Facebook Marketplace had 1.1 billion users, according to Meta. The business omitted 2021 Marketplace revenue information. After observing underwhelming results from its experiment in the UK, TikTok reportedly scaled back live shopping in the US and Europe back in July, according to a story from the Financial Times. Even while the company’s agreement with TalkShopLive isn’t said to be finalised, this could indicate that TikTok isn’t yet shutting down its live shopping aspirations, at least not in North America. If TikTok goes forward with the deal, live shopping may launch “over the next month with significant companies,” just in time for the holiday season, according to the Financial Times. Since last year, TikTok has been looking into ways to incorporate shopping capabilities. Most recently, an Indonesian-specific Shop tab has been added to the app. Facebook Live Shopping, a function akin to a shopping channel on television, was shut down, according to a statement from Meta in August. TikTok tried out shopping capabilities in Europe but abandoned the initiative when it didn’t meet sales goals. According to SEO Agency China, a Chinese digital marketing company, live shopping on Douyin, TikTok’s sister site in China, had more than 10 billion products sold between April 2020 and 2021.
TalkShopLive and American retailer Walmart (WMT.N) reached an arrangement last year to offer shoppable content via embeddable videos on Walmart.com. The rumoured agreement comes as TikTok, whose biggest market is the United States, is under investigation by American lawmakers who are concerned about the app’s protections for user data.
