TikTok might be the most popular social media service with the younger generation (and some of the older generation too) but popularity alone doesn’t make money and at the end of the day these companies all need to turn a profit to keep providing their services.
According to a new Bloomberg report, it appears that TikTok is going to be doing what every other social media service does when it needs to increase revenue – turn to retail therapy.
TikTok has done some shopping-related features in the past when it gave creators the ability to sell merchandise through an integration with Shopify where TikTok took a small share of the cut from sales. However, according to the report, this time TikTok is planning to put an actual shopping section in on the app which will allow users to browse and purchase items from partnering retailers based on a user’s TikTok preferences. Though considering the age of the average TikTok user, I’m not sure enough will have access to credit cards in order to buy stuff online.
The feature will initially only be available in the US with retailers still needing to partner up. Giving the popularity of the service currently, I would expect many retailers keen to sign up and looking to target the younger demographic with their goods. There aren’t too many details around the company’s planned expansion into retail, though if it gets it right, it could be a good move for the company. After all, in a few users, TikTok users will be young employees with plenty of cash to burn and will soon become the economic powerhouses of the world. Let that scary thought settle in for you.
Last Updated: May 14, 2021
