Recently, media reports said that TikTok will form a partnership with Los Angeles-based TalkShopLive to launch its live-streaming shopping platform in North America by outsourcing its operations.
At present, the two parties are still discussing the details of the cooperation and have not signed any formal contracts or agreements. The two parties have not released any relevant information to the outside world.
According to the report, TikTok plans to launch the "TikTok Shop" function in North America in the form of an outsourced service. If TikTok and TalkShopLive can successfully cooperate, it may cooperate with large brands to start a live shopping special session next month. TikTok Shop’s previous performance in the UK was mediocre, so there are no plans to enter Europe and other Western countries for the time being.
This year, TikTok Shop has achieved outstanding results after entering five countries in Southeast Asia. Last month’s Southeast Asia 99 promotion, the total GMV increased by 156%, and the live broadcast exposure PV reached nearly 300 million, proving the feasibility of the TikTok Shop project to the outside world.
Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Los Angeles, TalkShopLive is a live broadcast and social shopping company. Previously, companies such as Walmart and Microsoft's MSN have cooperated with TalkShopLive to carry out live delivery business, which reflects the maturity and reliability of TalkShopLive platform technology.
If the cooperation with TikTok can be reached this time, TikTok will directly use the technology of TalkShopLive to hold live broadcast activities, and the live broadcast content can also be linked to its own official website and other media channels, which saves the time of platform construction, and also has back-end technical support.
At present, TikTok has not responded to the matter, and it is still unknown whether it can reach a cooperation with TalkShopLive. It was previously reported that due to the unfavorable operation of the TikTok Shop in the United Kingdom, TikTok would abandon its live streaming business in Europe and cancel plans for further expansion. Later, TikTok officials clarified that the news was untrue, denied reports that the company was “abandoning” to expand live streaming shopping in Europe, and stated that “there has never been a plan to launch e-commerce functions in the European continent in the first half of this year.”
Since last year, TikTok has been exploring more possibilities for the business of live shopping, and has been continuously improving the functions and user experience of TikTok Shop, but in the European market, the business model of live shopping is still to be verified.
According to the prediction of eMarketer, a world-renowned market research institution, TikTok has surpassed Snapchat to become the third largest social platform in the UK, and will continue to grow, and there is still a lot of room for development.
TikTok's advertising revenue has also risen sharply with the increase in user activity. With such a high number of monthly active users as the basis, the success of TikTok Shop in the UK is only temporary. The consumption habits of users need to be cultivated, and TikTok has to pay more time.
According to data released by Influencer Marketing Hub, from March 2020 to July 2021, global live-streaming e-commerce purchases increased by 76%, and the conversion rate of live-streaming shopping is ten times higher than that of the ordinary model. The value of the shopping industry will reach 35 billion US dollars. This is a hugely profitable market, so all parties will actively explore it. As a pioneer of this model, TikTok will naturally not give up the European market easily.