TikTok’s plan to transform itself into a world eCommerce powerhouse continues to face challenges, with the platform’s in-stream buying choices now struggling to realize important floor in Indonesia, the place TikTok had been seeing greater ranges of buying success.
Final 12 months, TikTok acquired native on-line retail supplier Tokopedia, as a way to adjust to native laws that restrict social media corporations from working eCommerce platforms. The thought was that this may allow TikTok to each align with its authorized necessities, whereas additionally piggybacking off of Tokopedia’s success, with the buying app having established itself as a key on-line commerce instrument within the area.
However experiences counsel that it hasn’t performed out the way in which that TikTok hoped.
In keeping with Remainder of World, TikTok has since pushed Tokopedia sellers to make TikTok-like content material, which may be very completely different from the static product pictures they may add to Tokopedia. Sellers have additionally reported decrease web site visits, in addition to greater charges and advert prices, which has prompted a lot of them to change to different commerce platforms as an alternative.
So slightly than constructing TikTok’s on-line buying presence, it’s seemingly now taken it again a step. Which might be a very robust capsule to swallow for TikTok, provided that it paid $US840 million for Tokopedia, and TikTok had been gaining traction with its in-stream gross sales choices in South East Asian markets.
It hasn’t, nonetheless, seen the identical success in Western areas, the place customers proceed to want to maintain their buying exercise separate from their social and/or leisure apps.
For no matter purpose, Western customers haven’t proven the identical desire as Chinese language digital customers to cram as a lot performance as they’ll right into a single app, which is what’s seen platforms like WeChat and TikTok change into main cash makers within the Chinese language native market.
And now, TikTok’s gross sales push is stalling in different areas as properly, and it’ll be fascinating to see whether or not TikTok seems to shift focus onto its advert enterprise as an alternative, if it will possibly’t achieve actual traction for its on-line buying choices.
However then once more, TikTok buying is steadily rising, simply not as quick as TikTok would love.
Final month, TikTok reported that:
“Over the previous 12 months, our group of sellers has expanded into greater than 750 classes, bringing customers an unbelievable collection of over 70 million merchandise. To this point in 2025, our rising group of customers, sellers, and creators has pushed spectacular momentum throughout the TikTok Store platform. Within the U.S., TikTok Store gross sales have elevated 120% in comparison with the identical interval final 12 months.”
So TikTok buying is on the rise, however it’s a far cry from the quick success that the corporate noticed with its buying choices in China.
Certainly, buying is now the highest income stream for Douyin, the Chinese language model of the app, with Douyin bringing in $US490 billion in gross merchandise worth (GMV) in 2024 alone. By comparability, TikTok reportedly generated round $US33 billion in GMV, throughout all different markets.
The numbers underline the potential, but additionally the problem, in that TikTok has been pushing its buying choices for 4 years now, and so they haven’t gained on the identical charge as they’ve within the Chinese language market.
But it surely’s nonetheless probably an space of alternative. And whereas TikTok is going through pushback in some areas, it appears doubtless that it’ll proceed to plough on with its buying choices, with a view to tapping into that very same potential in additional areas.
Challenges stay, however there’s seemingly sufficient progress to maintain TikTok targeted on making this a factor, which is value noting for on-line sellers.
