TikTok plans steep holiday discounts, bringing Amazon price war
TikTok plans to offer steep holiday discounts in a monthlong campaign that will begin in late October, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg. The social media app aims to lure inflation-battered shoppers to its new online marketplace, taking the first shot in a price war with established competitors Amazon.com Inc. and Walmart Inc.
TikTok, owned by Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd., is hosting training sessions next week with merchants selling on its marketplace. It is offering to subsidize discounts of as much as 50% to entice sellers' participation in its Black Friday program, which begins Oct. 27 and runs through Nov. 30, according to the documents. A TikTok spokesperson confirmed the plans.
The company is betting that the busy holiday period — when US shoppers are projected to spend as much as $284 billion, according to Deloitte — will be a key time to stand out with discounts that compel shoppers to spend money on its new marketplace, which recently launched to US users of its app.
The popular app is known primarily for short, viral videos, and has more than 150 million monthly active users in the US, TikTok said earlier this year.
TikTok launched its Shop marketplace tab in the US this week, continuing the expansion of a commerce business that is the company's most promising new source of revenue growth. The app aims to sell $20 billion in merchandise on the platform globally this year, Bloomberg has reported.
Some merchants who were invited to test out selling to US consumers earlier this year say video campaigns on TikTok help boost sales on the site, but also on competing sites like Amazon and Walmart where US shoppers are more accustomed to shopping. The steep discounts — bankrolled by TikTok — may help US
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