TikTok Expands Reach... Food Delivery in China, TikTok Shop in the US

TikTok (Chinese name Douyin), well known as a video platform, is rapidly expanding its business areas. In China, it is moving into food purchasing and delivery, while in the United States, it is expanding into the e-commerce sector.

According to Chinese economic media Caixin on the 12th, Douyin's food group buying and delivery business, known as 'Douyin Bundishenghuo (local life),' recorded a total merchandise transaction volume (GMV) of 170 billion yuan (approximately 30.8992 trillion KRW) from January to August this year.

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

Douyin Bundishenghuo, which started pilot services in first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Chengdu at the end of last year, officially opened in six regions including Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Changsha, and Linyi in July this year. Recently, it added regions such as Shenzhen, Fuzhou, and Wuhan, making the service available in a total of 30 cities.

Douyin's group buying and delivery business is similar to China's online delivery business called waimai (外賣). First, consumers purchase group buying coupons for fixed packages registered by restaurants, and then the food is delivered to their homes. So far, China's waimai market is dominated by Meituan and Ele.me. As of 2020, Meituan held 69% and Ele.me 26% of the market share. According to a 2022 report by Meituan, the company's market share approached 70%.

In the United States, TikTok officially announced the launch of its e-commerce service 'TikTok Shop' through its official website on the same day. The home screen displays a shop tab and offers live commerce shopping services. The company explained that sellers can start selling products on TikTok Shop immediately, rather than on the existing platform.

According to Caixin, more than 200,000 sellers have joined TikTok Shop so far, including famous beauty brands such as L'Or?al, Benefit, Olay, and elf. TikTok Shop has already officially launched services in six Southeast Asian countries including Indonesia, as well as eight countries including the UK and the US. In the incomplete operation last year alone, it generated sales of about 4.4 billion dollars (approximately 5.8344 trillion KRW). More than 80% of this revenue reportedly came from Southeast Asia.

TikTok has previously launched a $1.5 billion 'Project Texas' to address issues such as cybersecurity in the United States. This involved establishing an independent US data security company to store and manage US users' payment information locally.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.