“We’re excited to partner with Amazon to deliver a seamless and fun shopping experience,” TikTok wrote in a post on Thursday, which did not provide details on how many international markets will be covered by the collaboration.
TikTok users will see Amazon product recommendations in the app’s “For You” feed, according to the post. In the US, TikTok users will also see real-time prices, estimated delivery times, product details and eligibility for Amazon’s paid Prime subscription service.
To complete a purchase without leaving the TikTok app, users must link their profile to an Amazon account.
TikTok Shop, the e-commerce business of ByteDance-owned TikTok, had more than 15 million sellers on its online marketplace in December. Photo: Shutterstock
TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The collaboration between TikTok and Amazon reflects the fierce competition between the two platforms, especially in the US with the fast-fashion online retailer Shein and discount shopping platform Temúoperated by Pinduoduo owner PDD investments.
However, the announcement of the Amazon deal did not provide any details on how it would affect TikTok’s own e-commerce business. TikTok Shopwith more than 500,000 merchants selling to US users by the end of 2023.
There were more than 15 million sellers worldwide on TikTok’s online marketplace in December, the company said in its first TikTok Shop Safety Report in May.
The Amazon.com shopping app in Apple’s App Store. Photo: Shutterstock
Amazon also signed a similar partnership this week with Pinterestand thus expands an existing relationship that was established in late 2023. By cooperating with Pinterest and TikTok, which has 170 million monthly active users in the US, Amazon can increase its sales through “social shopping,” the company said.
Nevertheless, the competition with Shein and Temu is becoming increasingly tough.
Temus Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) rose to around 20 billion US dollars in the first half of the year by 2024, surpassing the total revenue of $18 billion in 2023, according to a report by Chinese media outlet 36Kr. Temu expects to reach the GMV milestone of $30 billion in 2024, according to a report by Chinese media outlet LatePost last December.
Shein, meanwhile, forecast its gross merchandise value to reach $58.5 billion in 2025, up from $22.7 billion in 2022, the Financial Times reported in February.
According to a report by Data.ai, Temu topped the shopping app download charts in 125 markets in 2023, including the US, where Shein took second place.
