TikTok Eyes $17.5 Billion Shopping Business on Amazon’s Turf

tech.hindustantimes.com:

ByteDance Ltd.'s TikTok aims to grow the size of its US e-commerce business tenfold to as much as $17.5 billion this year, according to people familiar with the matter, posing a bigger threat to Amazon.com Inc.

The 2024 merchandise volume goal for the US version of TikTok Shop — which melds online entertainment with impulse buying — was discussed in internal meetings in recent weeks and may still change depending on how the business goes, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing private information.

TikTok's ambitious target sets up a clash not just with Amazon but also fellow Chinese-owned outfits Temu and Shein, who've been making big strides among younger American shoppers. Unlike its two rival discounters, TikTok is counting on its social media reach and the appeal of viral videos to hook buyers.

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TikTok was last year on track to amass around $20 billion in global gross merchandise value, with Southeast Asia contributing the bulk of sales through its platform, Bloomberg News reported. Now, the company is seeking to expand sales in the US and Latin America, where it's planning to launch the e-commerce operation in coming months, two people familiar with the matter said.

“The speculated US merchandise sales figures represented by Bloomberg are inaccurate,” TikTok said in a statement. 

ByteDance, founded more than a decade ago by Zhang Yiming and Liang Rubo, grew into an internet leader worth more than $200 billion thanks to the virality of short-video platforms TikTok and Douyin. TikTok Shop is one of the fastest-growing features for the Beijing-based, closely held company, which is seeking a new growth driver beyond social-media advertising. ByteDance's revenue surged