TikTok begins testing in-app shopping to challenge Facebook

A video selling jewellery products on ByteDance Ltd’s Douyin application in Beijing, China. The Internet giant remains a late entrant to China’s social commerce scene, where influencers tout products to fans like a Gen-Z version of the Home Shopping Network. — Bloomberg

ByteDance Ltd’s TikTok is working with brands including streetwear label Hype to test in-app sales in Europe, a move that will intensify its competition with Facebook Inc and further blur the line between social media and online shopping.

The popular video app is hoping to replicate abroad the success of its Chinese-only cousin Douyin, which racked up US$26bil (RM107.38bil) of e-commerce transactions in just its first year of operation. TikTok has begun working with merchants in markets including the UK on ways they can sell products directly to millions of users within the app, people familiar with the matter say.