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TikTok, Amazon collaborate on online shopping amid rivalry with Shein, Temu

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TikTok, Amazon collaborate on online shopping amid rivalry with Shein, Temu

“We’re excited to collaborate with Amazon to offer a seamless and fun shopping experience,” TikTok wrote in a post on Thursday, which did not provide details on how many international markets are covered by this collaboration.

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

To complete checkout for a purchase without leaving the TikTok app, users need to link their profile with an Amazon account.

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

TikTok did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The collaboration between TikTok and Amazon reflects the two platforms’ heated competition, especially in the US, with fast-fashion online retailer Shein and discount shopping platform Temu, operated by Pinduoduo owner PDD Holdings.
The Amazon deal’s announcement, however, did not elaborate on how it would affect TikTok’s own e-commerce business TikTok Shop, which had more than 500,000 merchants selling to US users at the end of 2023.

Worldwide, TikTok had more than 15 million sellers on its online marketplace as of December, the company said in its first TikTok Shop Safety Report released in May.

Amazon.com’s shopping app on Apple’s App Store. Photo: Shutterstock
Amazon also signed this week a similar partnership with Pinterest, extending an existing relationship established in late 2023. Cooperating with Pinterest and TikTok, which has 170 million monthly active users in the US, will enable Amazon to drive its revenue through “social shopping”, the company said.

Still, competition with Shein and Temu continues to heat up.

Temu’s gross merchandise value (GMV) surged to about US$20 billion in the first half of 2024, surpassing overall sales of US$18 billion in 2023, according to a report by Chinese media outlet 36Kr. Temu expects to hit the US$30 billion GMV milestone in 2024, according to a report last December by Chinese media LatePost.

Shein, meanwhile, has forecast its 2025 GMV to reach US$58.5 billion, up from US$22.7 billion in 2022, The Financial Times reported in February.

Temu topped the shopping app download charts across 125 markets in 2023 including the US, where Shein ranked second, according to a report by Data.ai.

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