The rise of TikTok is no longer just for young people. Many older people gave the app a shot, in part driven by the lockdown.
TikTok is going through an important moment since its creation in 2014, as the platform developed by ByteDance in 2020 became the most downloaded application in the world between January and November 2020. Today, the application is making a more aggressive bet and wants to promote the e – commerce from its platform.
According to TikTok, the changes in the short video platform are focused on becoming a social network where users can earn money directly from the app . In addition, they want to create a tool that allows the most popular users to link products and automatically earn commissions on sales.
A spokesperson for the technology firm explained to the Financial Times newspaper , they are planning to expand in electronic commerce starting with the United States . “We are looking for a radical change, to give a new perspective to the brand mainly in affiliate marketing,” he explained. Likewise, the application also wants to launch live purchases , an exclusive version for mobiles of television shopping channels. Also, turn the platform into a kind of digital catalog , where users can watch live videos and, at the same time, buy the product that is displayed on the screen.
However, a statement from ByteDance on the new advertising business model has not yet been officially released . Reports indicate that video creators could advertise any product, regardless of whether or not they have a formal endorsement agreement.
This bet on the part of the creators of TikTok is far from being a digital platform with millions of users, but they try to find ways to continue monetizing their product . However, there are companies that have been ahead of TikTok, including WhatsApp with Carts , a business model to turn the messaging application into an e-commerce center.
Instagram and Facebook have made it easy for users to make purchases online without having to leave their platforms. Faced with this situation, TikTok proposes to focus on a target market of young people between 18 and 24 years of age . The company’s first step was to partner with Walmart in late 2020, an early sign of its ambitions to conquer e-commerce .
For now, TikTok is looking to expand its business and not just rely on advertising, but build a stronger platform and generate revenue with monetization through product sponsorship and e-commerce . The application plans should be focused on improving the political situation between China and the United States . This, with the intention of moving forward with their business plans and will depend largely on the policies proposed by the new Joe Biden administration .
