(The TikTok Shop is an opportunity you absolutely cant miss!) exclaimed a Southeast Asian MCN agency leader
(The TikTok Shop is an opportunity you absolutely cant miss!) exclaimed a Southeast Asian MCN agency leader
Since February of this year, the TikTok Shop has been gradually rolling out on various sites in Southeast Asia, then launched in the UK in June, and is soon set to enter the US market.
Within just half a year, the TikTok Shop has made rapid strides, not only in terms of the speed at which it's been deployed but also in the expansion of its sales scale. Several insiders revealed to Ebrun that currently, the GMV of the Shop accounts for 20% of the total TikTok Shop's GMV in Southeast Asia. Internally, the TikTok Shop has set even higher goals, aiming to reach a 50% GMV share for the Shop by the end of this year.
"The growth is really rapid! We just started, haven't invested much effort, yet we're getting a lot of natural traffic," a Southeast Asian seller pointed out. The official stance is clear, as the Shop has been designated as a core project for this year.
Transitioning from interest-driven e-commerce to an all-encompassing e-commerce, TikTok appears to be moving faster and more urgently than its sister platform, Douyin. If Douyin compensated for its live-streaming commerce after its development matured, TikTok, on the other hand, introduced the "Shop" during the early stages of its e-commerce journey. It was prioritized significantly with a prominent entry point on the homepage.
01
Crossing the River with the Experience of Douyin
How Much Traffic Does the TikTok Shop Attract?
The TikTok Shop was initially tested in Indonesia in October of last year and then gradually expanded to countries like Thailand and the Philippines this year. This marked the first instance of TikTok's "Content + Shop" dual-pathway e-commerce model being introduced in Southeast Asia.
Taking the Indonesian TikTok Shop as an example, its logic is similar to the domestic Douyin Shop. It features various sections such as search, recommended products, flash sales, a new user channel, free shipping zone, stores, and shopping carts. It also includes product cards, live-streaming cards, and short video cards, encompassing core elements of traditional shelf-based e-commerce.
Upon opening TikTok, one will notice that the TikTok Shop for various Southeast Asian countries is directly accessible under the "Shop" tab on the right side of the homepage, replacing the former "Friends" tab, thereby becoming a primary entry point. In contrast, the initial prominence of the shopping entry on Douyin was not as high. Initially, users had to click on the "Me" icon at the bottom right, then navigate to the Shop (a secondary/tertiary entry), and only during last year's 618 shopping festival did it become a primary entry (appearing as a tab at the top of the homepage).
The potential of the Shop was first demonstrated on TikTok's second-largest global platform, Indonesia, which also boasts being the largest in Southeast Asia (note: Indonesia has around 113 million TikTok users, second only to the US with 150 million users). According to official data, during the Ramadan promotion earlier this year, TikTok Shop's GMV in Indonesia grew by over 185% compared to the average daily sales before the promotion. This provides an initial confirmation of overseas consumers' interest in shelf-based e-commerce.
An Indonesian e-commerce seller named Da Lin informed Ebrun that they began operating both TikTok live-streaming and a Shop at the beginning of this year. He even set up a live-streaming room in Jakarta. Currently, the Shop business (including search domain, Shop activities, and Shop stores) accounts for 60% of the total GMV. "We can clearly sense that the TikTok Shop is in a period of growth and is outpacing live-streaming," he candidly remarked.
"Content was once a visible barrier for businesses entering the TikTok Shop. Creating short videos, nurturing anchors—it's not an easy task. And to make sales, it takes even more time to generate orders through influencer-led marketing. The launch of the Shop has significantly lowered the barrier, allowing businesses to start from a more familiar traditional shelf-based approach—replicating and uploading their existing Shoppe/Lazada pages, synchronizing new stores with just one click through ERP software, and leveraging the natural traffic of the Shop to generate orders," expressed a TikTok Shop Partner (TSP) service provider.
There are many sellers who have caught wind of the dividend from the TikTok Shop. A beauty product seller from TikTok Indonesia revealed to Ebrun that even without dedicated operations or any marketing efforts, the Shop has already driven a 10% increase in traffic. Consequently, they plan to restructure their team, shifting from primarily content-driven e-commerce to establishing a dedicated Shop operation team.
"I think this is a great opportunity for sellers who don't primarily focus on content. Another home goods seller also pointed out to Ebrun that they don't engage in short video ads or influencer promotion. Instead, they operate the Shop as a normal shelf-based e-commerce platform, relying on the Shop's own traffic to generate orders.
Furthermore, it's worth mentioning that for many TikTok sellers, the Shop isn't just a new avenue for traffic but also signifies a healthier business model. In comparison to solely content-driven e-commerce, shelf-based e-commerce is simpler in terms of gameplay, has fewer category restrictions, and can complement the pulse-like traffic from short videos and live-streaming, enhancing the stability of sales.
With the launch of the Shop, TikTok has undoubtedly opened the doors to traditional e-commerce sellers, including those from Southeast Asian e-commerce platforms like Shopee, Lazada, Tokopedia, Bukalapak, Tiki, and Amazon (Singapore). This provides more diverse channels for business operations.
According to statistics from the third-party data agency FastData for the first half of 2023, in the eight markets where TikTok Shop is already available (Indonesia, the UK, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Singapore, and the US in the testing phase), Southeast Asia is the dominant region. Among these, Indonesia has the highest number of small stores (accounting for 30.9%), and the number of small stores in Vietnam (23%) and Thailand (20%) is also rapidly increasing.
Labeling Southeast Asia as a crucial experimental field for TikTok e-commerce isn't an overstatement. The closed-loop small stores and Shop business of TikTok Shop were both initially launched in Southeast Asia. It seems that this region is more adept at replicating and modifying the e-commerce model that China has established. Previously, TikTok CEO Zhang Yiming mentioned at a forum held in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, that in the next few years, the company will invest billions of dollars in Southeast Asia.
According to industry insiders, TikTok plans to quadruple the scale of its global e-commerce business this year, reaching a GMV of $20 billion. Among this, the GMV for the Southeast Asian region could potentially reach $15 billion. Following the official plan—achieving a 50% GMV share for the Shop by the end of the year—equates to more than $7.5 billion, showcasing the rapid pace of its expansion.
Since February of this year, the TikTok Shop has been gradually rolling out on various sites in Southeast Asia, then launched in the UK in June, and is soon set to enter the US market.
Within just half a year, the TikTok Shop has made rapid strides, not only in terms of the speed at which it's been deployed but also in the expansion of its sales scale. Several insiders revealed to Ebrun that currently, the GMV of the Shop accounts for 20% of the total TikTok Shop's GMV in Southeast Asia. Internally, the TikTok Shop has set even higher goals, aiming to reach a 50% GMV share for the Shop by the end of this year.
"The growth is really rapid! We just started, haven't invested much effort, yet we're getting a lot of natural traffic," a Southeast Asian seller pointed out. The official stance is clear, as the Shop has been designated as a core project for this year.
Transitioning from interest-driven e-commerce to an all-encompassing e-commerce, TikTok appears to be moving faster and more urgently than its sister platform, Douyin. If Douyin compensated for its live-streaming commerce after its development matured, TikTok, on the other hand, introduced the "Shop" during the early stages of its e-commerce journey. It was prioritized significantly with a prominent entry point on the homepage.
01
Crossing the River with the Experience of Douyin
How Much Traffic Does the TikTok Shop Attract?
The TikTok Shop was initially tested in Indonesia in October of last year and then gradually expanded to countries like Thailand and the Philippines this year. This marked the first instance of TikTok's "Content + Shop" dual-pathway e-commerce model being introduced in Southeast Asia.
Taking the Indonesian TikTok Shop as an example, its logic is similar to the domestic Douyin Shop. It features various sections such as search, recommended products, flash sales, a new user channel, free shipping zone, stores, and shopping carts. It also includes product cards, live-streaming cards, and short video cards, encompassing core elements of traditional shelf-based e-commerce.
Upon opening TikTok, one will notice that the TikTok Shop for various Southeast Asian countries is directly accessible under the "Shop" tab on the right side of the homepage, replacing the former "Friends" tab, thereby becoming a primary entry point. In contrast, the initial prominence of the shopping entry on Douyin was not as high. Initially, users had to click on the "Me" icon at the bottom right, then navigate to the Shop (a secondary/tertiary entry), and only during last year's 618 shopping festival did it become a primary entry (appearing as a tab at the top of the homepage).
The potential of the Shop was first demonstrated on TikTok's second-largest global platform, Indonesia, which also boasts being the largest in Southeast Asia (note: Indonesia has around 113 million TikTok users, second only to the US with 150 million users). According to official data, during the Ramadan promotion earlier this year, TikTok Shop's GMV in Indonesia grew by over 185% compared to the average daily sales before the promotion. This provides an initial confirmation of overseas consumers' interest in shelf-based e-commerce.
An Indonesian e-commerce seller named Da Lin informed Ebrun that they began operating both TikTok live-streaming and a Shop at the beginning of this year. He even set up a live-streaming room in Jakarta. Currently, the Shop business (including search domain, Shop activities, and Shop stores) accounts for 60% of the total GMV. "We can clearly sense that the TikTok Shop is in a period of growth and is outpacing live-streaming," he candidly remarked.
"Content was once a visible barrier for businesses entering the TikTok Shop. Creating short videos, nurturing anchors—it's not an easy task. And to make sales, it takes even more time to generate orders through influencer-led marketing. The launch of the Shop has significantly lowered the barrier, allowing businesses to start from a more familiar traditional shelf-based approach—replicating and uploading their existing Shoppe/Lazada pages, synchronizing new stores with just one click through ERP software, and leveraging the natural traffic of the Shop to generate orders," expressed a TikTok Shop Partner (TSP) service provider.
There are many sellers who have caught wind of the dividend from the TikTok Shop. A beauty product seller from TikTok Indonesia revealed to Ebrun that even without dedicated operations or any marketing efforts, the Shop has already driven a 10% increase in traffic. Consequently, they plan to restructure their team, shifting from primarily content-driven e-commerce to establishing a dedicated Shop operation team.
"I think this is a great opportunity for sellers who don't primarily focus on content. Another home goods seller also pointed out to Ebrun that they don't engage in short video ads or influencer promotion. Instead, they operate the Shop as a normal shelf-based e-commerce platform, relying on the Shop's own traffic to generate orders.
Furthermore, it's worth mentioning that for many TikTok sellers, the Shop isn't just a new avenue for traffic but also signifies a healthier business model. In comparison to solely content-driven e-commerce, shelf-based e-commerce is simpler in terms of gameplay, has fewer category restrictions, and can complement the pulse-like traffic from short videos and live-streaming, enhancing the stability of sales.
With the launch of the Shop, TikTok has undoubtedly opened the doors to traditional e-commerce sellers, including those from Southeast Asian e-commerce platforms like Shopee, Lazada, Tokopedia, Bukalapak, Tiki, and Amazon (Singapore). This provides more diverse channels for business operations.
According to statistics from the third-party data agency FastData for the first half of 2023, in the eight markets where TikTok Shop is already available (Indonesia, the UK, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Singapore, and the US in the testing phase), Southeast Asia is the dominant region. Among these, Indonesia has the highest number of small stores (accounting for 30.9%), and the number of small stores in Vietnam (23%) and Thailand (20%) is also rapidly increasing.
Labeling Southeast Asia as a crucial experimental field for TikTok e-commerce isn't an overstatement. The closed-loop small stores and Shop business of TikTok Shop were both initially launched in Southeast Asia. It seems that this region is more adept at replicating and modifying the e-commerce model that China has established. Previously, TikTok CEO Zhang Yiming mentioned at a forum held in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, that in the next few years, the company will invest billions of dollars in Southeast Asia.
According to industry insiders, TikTok plans to quadruple the scale of its global e-commerce business this year, reaching a GMV of $20 billion. Among this, the GMV for the Southeast Asian region could potentially reach $15 billion. Following the official plan—achieving a 50% GMV share for the Shop by the end of the year—equates to more than $7.5 billion, showcasing the rapid pace of its expansion.
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