E-commerce Archives - Tech Research Online

TikTok to Fund Black Friday Deals to Take on Amazon

Emily Lawson — Mon, 18 Sep 2023 12:17:47 +0000

A recent report from Bloomberg stated that TikTok plans to provide significant discounts this holiday season. It will be a month-long campaign beginning on 27th October. The social media platform aims to subsidize up to 50% discounts to attract US holiday shoppers. With these discounts, TikTok wants to attract shoppers in holiday sales who go to retailers like Walmart and Amazon.

The confirmation comes directly from a TikTok spokesperson who stated that the discounts will start at 8 PM on November 23rd. Furthermore, the discounts for Cyber Monday will run from 28th to 30th November.

ByteDance’s eCommerce Ambitions with TikTok Shop

Owned by Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd., TikTok was initially known for shorts and viral videos. However, it has also established its store named TikTok Shop in the US last week. Through this marketplace, it is offering to hold and ship products from sellers using its own fulfillment centers. TikTok has also kept its target users in mind with an affiliate program. Through that program, content creators can promote products through their videos for a commission.

The company aims to ship products worth $20 billion worldwide this year, and the holiday sale will be a catalyst. As US citizens alone spent more than $20 billion online during Black Friday and Cyber Monday last year.

TikTok Shop is also making itself accessible to more people by selling cheaper products made in China. The company also provides free shipping and 20% off coupons to consumers ahead of the designated tab. TikTok Shop is also making an effort user-friendly with prices displayed front and center in large font with highlighted discounts. For the recommendations, the Shop tab opens with a section called ‘Today’s Deals.’ Few selected users can also tag these products in their posts to redirect users to that product’s page.

Will TikTok Shop be the Next Big Online Store?

A TikTok spokesperson said last week, “There are over 200,000 verified US merchants on TikTok Shop selling legitimate products, including over 150,000 beauty products that have been validated through our process and represent some of the biggest names in the beauty business.”

TikTok is also holding a training session with dealers selling through their marketplace. It will be notable to see if these deals will give the consumers the shopping rush they enjoy from shopping on Black Fridays and Cyber Mondays through Amazon and Walmart. Also, in this competitive scenario, will Tiktok reach its $20 Billion US sales or will it just stay as an expectation? Let us know how you feel in the comments below.

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Walmart Buys Flipkart’s Remaining Stake from Tiger Global at $1.4 Billion

Tech Research Online — Mon, 31 Jul 2023 14:58:39 +0000

Flipkart is India’s Second largest e-commerce platform behind Amazon. Flipkart’s remaining share with Tiger Global was purchased by Walmart. Walmart pays $1.4 billion for buying out the stakes from Tiger Global.

More About the Deal

The buyout happened a few days back when Tiger Global cashed out its shares. The company made an overall gain of $3.5 billion on an investment of $1.2 billion. The information came from hedge fund Investors with HQs in New York. The Wall Street Journal post reported the deal between the two.

Flipkart is the only Indian firm in which Tiger Global has invested above $1 billion, with $6 billion in Indian firms overall. Tiger Global’s investment in Flipkart gave the Indian startup scene a boost. Effectively establishing the country’s dominance as a global leader.

Flipkart had a valuation of $35 billion by the secondary share sale. Flipkart was given a $37.6 billion valuation at a financing round in 2021. But since the breakup of payments company PhonePe, it has internally reduced that value by about $5 billion.

Some More Info on Past Investments

According to a study by market intelligence company Tracxn, Walmart owned 72% of the company as of last year, despite having paid $16 billion for a 77% interest in Flipkart in 2018.

Another way to look at Walmart’s almost $20 billion investment in Flipkart is to consider that it is purchasing stock in a business that competes with Amazon’s local division, which was able to build a comparable enterprise in-house for less than $7 billion.

A Walmart representative said, “We are even more optimistic about the opportunity in India today than when we first invested. We remain confident in Flipkart’s future.”

Flipkart Bet on Walmart for Funding

Flipkart currently needs additional investment as the money it raised in 2021 has almost been spent. The Company has recently measured market interest, but no deal was finalized because of a lesser valuation. As a result, it appears likely that it will go back to Walmart to get most of the funding required for the following round.

As Flipkart plans to lock horns with Amazon, it should require a pile of working capital. The reason has been the rapid rise in small and medium industries which are on the rise in India since the Make in India campaign.

That being said, it Will be interesting to see how Flipkart uses this gold mine in Walmart.

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TikTok Plans a New E-commerce Initiative as a Competition to Amazon & Shein

Tech Research Online — Fri, 23 Jun 2023 13:26:30 +0000

TikTok was introduced in the year 2016. Byte Dance-owned TikTok is a short-form video hosting service from China. Videos uploaded by users are hosted on the platform, and they can be anything from three seconds to ten minutes long.

Ever since its inception in 2016, Byte Dance-owned TikTok has surpassed 2 billion mobile downloads worldwide. Now, with its new initiative ‘TikTok E-Commerce’ aims to go after some of the well-known E-commerce giants like Amazon and Shein.

Trendy Beat – TikTok’s Answer to Online Shopping, but With a Unique Concept!

A subsidiary of TikTok’s parent company, Byte Dance, is shipping and selling the products that are being offered for sale in the new Trendy Beat shopping section of the app. The shopping area provides popular products like equipment for removing ear wax that has been featured in viral films.

Though the new Trendy Beat feature isn’t currently being tested in the United States, it might come soon. Last month, TikTok submitted a Trademark application in the US for Trendy Beat, indicating that the test feature may soon be made available in the US. Clothing products such as dresses, scarves, hats, shoes, bathing suits, sleep masks, sweaters, skirts, shirts, suits, and more are listed in the trademark application.

Project S – For Selling Original Products on TikTok

According to The Financial Times, Project S is the internal code name for Byte Dance’s plan to begin selling its own products via the video app. According to the report, Project S makes use of TikTok’s knowledge of the goods that are becoming more and more popular on the app. This enables Byte Dance to either buy or produce those goods. According to reports, Byte Dance sources these products via a network of suppliers.

The new feature is a departure from TikTok’s current e-commerce strategy, which is mostly represented through its TikTok Shop marketplace. Also, shows that the company is seeking to compete with retailers like Amazon and Shein. However, with this new function, TikTok would be selling its own products instead of allowing brands to sell their products directly within the app as it does with TikTok Shop. With the new business model, TikTok will operate an online store in a manner like to how Amazon Basics and Shein market and provide their own best-selling products.

What Are the Chances of TikTok Competing with Other E-commerce Players?

The announcement comes at a time when TikTok is integrating companies like PacSun and Revolve for TikTok Shop, which has been undergoing testing in the United States since last November. Although TikTok Shop has found success in Asian countries, it has had difficulty taking off in the U.K.

Although TikTok’s e-commerce activities in the United States are still in their early stages, the app has a considerable impact on users’ purchasing decisions. By providing consumers with quick and easy access to shopping and discovery experiences, the new in-app shopping function would significantly increase the amount of these sales.

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