TikTok E-commerce Sets 400% Growth Target in the United States for 2025
According to the Chinese media outlet Jiemian citing anonymous sources, prior to the upheaval in the United States, TikTok’s e-commerce had already set a goal to grow by 400% in the US this year. Currently, the fastest-growing categories for TikTok e-commerce in the US are home goods, with health products also showing good growth.
On January 19, during TikTok’s brief downtime, the e-commerce management team had already assured some merchants that TikTok would not shut down in the US, and the e-commerce business would not be affected by the turmoil. Currently, the legality of TikTok’s operations in the US is still uncertain, but its business continues to operate normally. A source close to TikTok’s e-commerce revealed that the internal team is very confident in achieving the 400% growth target in the US this year.
However, consumer habits in the US differ significantly from those in China. According to internal meeting materials obtained by Jiemian, short videos are the main source of Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) for TikTok e-commerce in the US, accounting for around 40%, while the mall GMV accounts for about 30%, and live streaming contributes only about 10% of the GMV. Within the mall GMV, search accounts for 40%, recommendations for 25%, and channel pages for 10%. In contrast, consumer habits in countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, and Thailand are more similar to those in China, with a greater willingness to shop through live streaming e-commerce.
In recent years, the competition within the Douyin e-commerce ecosystem has intensified, making it increasingly difficult for small and medium-sized merchants to make profits. In contrast, TikTok e-commerce not only benefits from organic traffic but also generates a steady stream of orders through short video recommendations. As a result, many small and medium-sized merchants and MCN agencies that struggled to make money on Douyin have shifted their focus to TikTok e-commerce in the US.
It is understood that currently, over 90% of merchants on TikTok’s e-commerce platform come from China, with the US having a less profound understanding of the influencer economy compared to China.
In line with this trend, the entry policy for TikTok e-commerce merchants in the US was adjusted at the end of November last year. One significant change is that merchants entering the US TikTok e-commerce platform no longer need to provide third-party e-commerce platform experience and local US operational qualifications; instead, business licenses from mainland China and Hong Kong can be used for entry.
Before the adjustment in the entry policy, most merchants on the US TikTok e-commerce platform had achieved a certain scale on Amazon, and small and medium-sized merchants needed to rent qualifications from local US enterprises, posing a higher barrier to entry.
