TikTok Shop Launches in the US

TikTok has officially brought e-commerce to the U.S. with the launch of its TikTok Shop. The social media company, which is in direct competition with Meta's social media channels Instagram and Facebook, announced the U.S. debut of TikTok Shop on Tuesday. The app now features shoppable videos and livestreams directly to For You feeds across the country. It give brands, merchants and creators the tools to sell directly through shoppable content on the TikTok app.

In addition to in-feed videos and live shopping, TikTok Shop allows users to browse product tiles, read reviews, and purchase directly from a brand's profile. Businesses can curate custom product collections directly on their profile page. They can also display their products on a new product marketplace.

TikTok Shop will also provide a logistics solution — it picks, packs and then ships sellers' products to customers.

Total Retail's Take: The Chinese-based social media company, owned by ByteDance, has more than 150 million American users, according to a March press release from the company. Bloomberg reported in June that TikTok was aiming to quadruple its merchandise sales by the end of the year to hit $20 billion.

With the viral trend of #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt, the news of TikTok Shop wasn't unexpected, although the app's social media competitors have struggled with similar online shopping initiatives. For example, Meta-owned Instagram ended its livestream shopping business in March, following a similar Facebook shutdown. Whether TikTok, and its younger user demographic, bucks this trend remains to be seen. With data privacy concerns already swirling around TikTok, getting users to enter payment information into the app may prove to be a significant obstacle to the social platform's e-commerce goals.