On the cusp of the Chinese New Year, ByteDance’s short video app TikTok has unveiled aims to accelerate the global expansion of its small store business in 12 new countries in the Year of the Rabbit. Following the Spring Festival celebration, the internet giant plans to open stores in European countries such as France, Italy, and Spain, as well as Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil.
Among these nations, the Spanish and Brazilian markets seem to be the main priority for development. For Brazil, fast fashion giant Shein’s roaring success in the markets coupled with the rising momentum of e-commerce expected to grow to 160 billion USD by 2025 has many eyeing this blue ocean market. What’s more, the market is home to approximately 50 million loyal users of TikTok who are likely to be potential consumers.
Meanwhile, Spain has formed a solid e-commerce ecology with many keen on online shopping and the experience of entering the European market with the UK’s TikTok Shop could allow for smooth entry into the Spanish market.
At present, TikTok’s e-commerce business is in a state of rapid growth. According to The Information, the short video app’s e-commerce volume surged in 2022, with users spending a grand total of 1.41 trillion RMB (208 billion USD) purchasing items via the app in 2022, a 76% annual increase from the previous year. The video-sharing platform has set its ambitions high for 2023, with a 23-billion USD GMV target goal.
Moreover, according to TikTok Shop’s global year-end promotion report, its GMV growth of global cross-border business increased by 136%. In total, nearly 60,000 merchants and 30,000 influencers were reported to have participated in the seasonal promotions on the platform. In terms of watch time, accounts accumulated over 2.72 million hours of broadcast time and more than 1.3 billion interactions with users in short videos and live streams.
Overall, with the strong support of its massive traffic pool and market experience with TikTok Shop in Europe, TikTok continues to advance its e-commerce business at lightning speed. By steadily expanding its e-commerce shops to 12 more countries around the world, TikTok puts itself in a robust position to achieve its goals in the upcoming Year of the Rabbit.
