TikTok to release new shopping feature with big brands very soon

A new report from the Financial Times has revealed that TikTok is preparing to roll out a new shopping feature to users in North America.

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According to the report from the Financial Times, TikTok is gearing up to release a new feature called "TikTok Shop" across North America in partnership with US company TalkShopLive, which will be responsible for supporting livestreams hosted by influencers and brands. The report states that TikTok will release this new feature "over the next month" and that large brands will be part of its release.

The new feature comes after TikTok's sister app Douyin, which is extremely popular in China, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, the Philippines, and Indonesia, released a similar feature where it hosted nine million live ecommerce broadcasts per month, which resulted in more than ten billion products being sold in a year.

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Despite the success of TikTok's sister app, TikTok Shop hasn't proven to be popular in the regions it has already been rolled out in (United Kingdom), causing the company to postpone the launch of the feature across Europe. Notably, nothing is set in stone as of yet as "no contracts have been signed," and discussions between the relevant parties and still underway.

In response to these founded rumors, TikTok gave a statement to the Financial Times where it neither confirmed nor denied that the new feature was coming. TikTok simply said to the publication that when it comes to expansion for TikTok Shop, the company is guided by demand, and its always looking for different options to best serve its community, creators, and merchants from various locations around the world.

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