TikTok is working to expand sales in the US and Europe too, though those markets make up a small portion of the US$20 billion goal, the people said. The world’s most valuable startup is trying to grab a bigger slice of a US$17 trillion online commerce arena as its main revenue driver — its advertising business — slows during an economic downturn.
ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok aims to more than quadruple the size of its global e-commerce business to as much as US$20 billion ($20.94 billion) in merchandise sales this year, banking on rapid growth in Southeast Asia, according to people familiar with the matter.
That would be a speedy increase from last year’s US$4.4 billion in gross merchandise value, which represents the total worth of goods sold through its TikTok Shop offering, said the people, who asked not be identified discussing internal data. TikTok is betting on markets such as Indonesia, where influencers sell products from denim jeans to lipstick by showing them off in live-streamed videos.
