TikTok could be banned, but TikTok Shop is thriving

TikTok may be facing a potential ban here in the US, but its e-commerce biz is thriving.

Per the first TikTok Shop safety report, the e-comm platform had more than 15 million sellers worldwide by the end of 2023, with 500,000+ merchants selling to American consumers, more than doubling the number from the previous three months, Bloomberg reported.

The jump is hardly surprising, as the social media platform has accelerated its efforts to strengthen its online shopping arm, which added more than 6 million sellers in the second half of 2023.

Planning ahead: TikTok Shop has also refined its safety measures by barring 2 million sellers who didn’t meet its requirements, and spending a whopping $400 million on platform safety.

Its livestream shopping feature is part of its appeal to Gen Z consumers, who are most likely to shop on the platform. “While your traditional model might be scrolling through a list of products on a web page, we’re aiming to create an experience where it’s something more entertaining and engaging than that,” Mary Hubbard, head of governance and experience for TikTok Shop Americas, told Bloomberg.

Consumers have flocked to the platform within less than a year of its launch in the US in September 2023. As of January, TikTok Shop had a run rate of $3 billion in the United States.

“You can pretty much have everything in livestreaming—you have the conversion, you have the customer relationship building, and you’re also creating a brand at the same time,” Dan Dan Li, chief innovation officer at CommentSold, previously told Retail Brew.