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TikTok and Amazon Team Up for Online Shopping, Intensifying Competition with Shein and Temu

Posted on by darion

“We are excited to partner with Amazon to offer a seamless and enjoyable shopping experience,” TikTok said in a post on Thursday, without providing details on how many international markets the partnership will cover.

TikTok users will see Amazon product recommendations in the app’s “For You” feed, according to the post. In the United States, TikTok users will also see real-time pricing, shipping estimates, product details and eligibility for Amazon Prime’s paid subscription service.

To complete purchases without leaving the TikTok app, users must connect their profile to their Amazon account.

TikTok Shop, the e-commerce business owned by ByteDance TikTok, had more than 15 million sellers on its online marketplace as of December. Photo: Shutterstock

TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The partnership between TikTok and Amazon reflects the fierce competition between the two platforms, especially in the U.S., where the online fast-fashion retailer Shein and a discount shopping platform Youpowered by Pinduoduo owner PDD Holdings.
The announcement of the Amazon deal, however, did not explain how it would impact TikTok’s e-commerce business. TikTok Storewhere, at the end of 2023, over 500,000 merchants were selling products to US users.

As of December, there were more than 15 million merchants operating globally on the TikTok online platform, according to the first TikTok Store Security Report, published in May.

Amazon.com shopping app in Apple’s App Store. Photo: Shutterstock
Amazon signed a similar partnership this week with Pinterestexpanding an existing partnership that was formed in late 2023. The partnerships with Pinterest and TikTok, which has 170 million monthly active users in the U.S., will enable Amazon to increase revenue through “social shopping,” the company said.

However, the rivalry with Shein and Temu continues to intensify.

Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) increased to about 20 billion US dollars in the first half of the year 2024, surpassing $18 billion in total sales in 2023, according to a report by Chinese media outlet 36Kr. It expects to hit the $30 billion GMV milestone in 2024, according to a report by Chinese media outlet LatePost last December.

Meanwhile, as The Financial Times reported in February, Shein forecasts the company’s GMV to reach $58.5 billion in 2025, up from $22.7 billion in 2022.

In 2023, Temu topped the list of most downloaded shopping apps in 125 markets, including the U.S., where Shein came in second, according to a Data.ai report.