The company is preparing to recruit sellers for its ecommerce arm, TikTok Shop, where users can run livestreams selling a wide and diverse range of products at discounted prices. Sellers will earn a commission on sales.
TikTok decided to focus on Asia and Europe for its expansion as it faced a possible ban in the US. The platform has already been banned or restricted in 12 countries over security concerns about data collection and algorithmic control by the Chinese government.
TikTok also aims to expand into the US, where it awaits a deal aimed at securing its presence in the country. In March, the shop launched in France, Germany, and Italy, expanding its reach further in Europe as the platform was shut down temporarily in the US.
The shopping arm of social media app TikTok has been available in the UK since 2021. It also launched in the US in September 2023 and had sales over the holiday season last year. But TikTok's future in the US is dependent on whether the platform can find an American buyer.
An advantage of expanding in Europe was that many local merchants sell products directly from China, so the platform is easily working with them to get their products listed on the platform.
As the US president Donald Trump mentioned that a deal over the social media platform’s fate is still to be debated. Earlier in April, he extended the deadline to spin off the US assets of TikTok for the second time, reassuring that a potential deal could still be possible.
The future of the platform, used by nearly half of the American population, has been debated since a 2024 law, passed with bipartisan support, required the app to be divested by January 19.
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