TikTok wants more of the e-commerce pie Amazon is enjoying.
The popular social media platform is reportedly planning on offering high holiday discounts in a monthlong campaign soon to attract more users to its newly launched online shop.
TikTok launched its online shop, TikTok Shop, on Sept. 12 to bring "a new way for people to... find and shop for their favorite products."
TikTok vs. Amazon
TikTok's online shop has been facing many challenges since its launch, but it has a plan to turn things around. According to a report from Bloomberg, the social media giant is planning to offer steep holiday discounts in a one-month campaign.
TikTok picked an opportune time to launch it. The campaign, aptly named the "Black Friday Program," is scheduled to launch in late October, according to the documents the publication reviewed.
To be specific, it will begin on Oct. 27 and end on Nov. 30. This campaign aims to "lure inflation-battered shoppers" to its recently released TikTok Shop. To offer these discounts, TikTok plans to subsidize as much as 50% of the steep discounts in the campaign.
It will also host training sessions with merchants on its TikTok Shop next week and those enticed by its monthlong campaign to better orient them on it.
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A TikTok spokesperson confirmed the company's plans for the campaign. They also revealed that the company is betting that the period covered will be a critical time to stand out with shopper-compelling discounts and entice customers to spend money on its new marketplace.
Nevertheless, the campaign is sure to compete with Amazon's (and other competitors') plans for Black Friday and the holiday season. The period covered is when US shoppers are projected to spend as much as $284 billion to capitalize on the many discounts appearing in preparation for the holiday season, according to Deloitte.
Cheap And Counterfeit Items Inbound?
TikTok's online store is rife with controversy even before its launch. You may recall that TikTok shop is allegedly endorsing cheap goods from China after some US-based users noticed them on its online shopping platform.
An earlier Bloomberg article reported that the TikTok Shop has been recommending random products that seem to be counterfeit items, such as a Nike sweatshirt for $2.99, while their listings were said to be items that say shipped from China.
TikTok executives refuted Bloomberg's report, saying to the New York Times that more than 90% of sellers on TikTok Shop were based out of the US. However, the damage might already have been done - Americans might flock to Amazon more now that there is a possibility they could get cheap/counterfeit items from the TikTok Shop.
While some counterfeit items are being offered on Amazon, Americans trust the popular e-commerce platform (and even Google) than the police or the US government, per MarketWatch. As such, the TikTok Shop must do better if it wants to compete with an established platform like Amazon.
Related Article: TikTok Shop's Launch Could Face 'Difficult' US Market
