TikTok to Offer Deep Holiday Discounts in Challenge to Amazon

According to documents reviewed by Bloomberg, TikTok intends to launch a monthlong campaign starting in late October, offering significant holiday discounts. The popular social media platform aims to attract consumers who have been affected by inflation to its newly established online marketplace, initiating a price competition with well-established rivals such as Amazon.com Inc. and Walmart Inc.

TikTok, owned by Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd., will host training sessions next week with merchants selling on its marketplace. According to the documents, it offers to support discounts of up to 50% to entice sellers to participate in the Black Friday program, which starts on October 27 and runs until November 30. A TikTok spokesperson confirmed the plans.

The company is betting that the busy holiday season — when U.S. shoppers are expected to spend up to $284 billion, according to Deloitte — will be a key time to stand out with discounts that will compel shoppers to spend money on its new marketplace, which recently launched for U.S. users of its app.

The popular app is primarily known for short viral videos and has more than 150 million monthly active users in the United States, TikTok said earlier this year.

TikTok launched the Shop marketplace tab in the US this week and continues to expand commerce, the company’s most promising new source of revenue growth. Bloomberg has reported that the app aims to sell $20 billion worth of products on the platform worldwide this year.

Some merchants invited to test sales to U.S. consumers earlier this year say TikTok’s video campaigns are helping to boost sales on the site, but also at rival sites like Amazon and Walmart, where U.S. shoppers are used to shopping. Steep discounts funded by TikTok could help US shoppers become more familiar with spending their money directly through the app.

Popular discount days such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday are expected to play an especially important role in shoppers’ holiday plans this year, as inflation-stressed consumers are especially drawn to deals, according to a United Parcel Service Inc. shopper survey. .

TikTok will begin its Black Friday-specific sale at 8 p.m. New York time on November 23. Its Cyber Monday sale runs from November 28 to November 30, according to the documents.

The app has already established itself as a place for consumers to find cheap products – many of them from China. The company offered users free shipping and 20% off coupons before introducing a dedicated shopping tab. The new marketplace puts price front and center in big font, with discounts highlighted.

The shop tab opens “Today’s offers”. Certain users can also tag products in their videos to make them shoppable.

“TikTok Shop has more than 200,000 verified US merchants selling legitimate products — including more than 150,000 beauty products that have been validated through our process and represent some of the biggest names in the beauty industry,” a TikTok spokesperson said last week.