Time reports that "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."
According to the story, ByteDance-owned TikTok "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 … The company is betting that the busy holiday period — when U.S. 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 U.S. users of its app."
TikTok reportedly has more than 150 million monthly active users in the US.
- KC's View:
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It remains to be seen whether what TikTok's vendors will be selling are what US consumers want to buy - there was a story we had just the other day about how for the moment it seems to be largely cheap goods from China.
That doesn't mean TikTok won't have an impact, and it is a good bet that the likes of Amazon and Walmart will be taking it seriously. More than 150 million monthly users is a large potential base of customers.
