TikTok faces an unprecedented ban in the United States, caught between its huge popularity with consumers and the distrust of lawmakers. The crisis began in 2020 when some citizens and lawmakers became concerned about the privacy practices of China-based social media companies and their ties to the country’s Communist government.
In April 2024, President Biden signed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Enemies’ Regulatory Applications Act, requiring TikTok’s parent company to divest the platform by January 19, 2025.
The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the appeal on January 10, 2025, and many commentators expect TikTok to remain in the U.S. with or without a new owner.
TikTok shop
Meanwhile, TikTok Shop has been a boon for some e-commerce sellers. Social commerce platforms will reportedly reach $50 billion in global merchandise value by 2024. More than $10 billion of that could come from the U.S. market.
TikTok Shop is one of the top social commerce platforms, but it hasn’t reached its full potential.
Collectively, early social commerce platforms Black Friday and Cyber Monday will generate $137 million in U.S. sales in 2024.
Still, the TikTok shop might. far from that possibility Online sellers, large and small, are waiting to see how this ban will play out before adding another e-commerce platform.
Today, e-commerce platforms include at least four types of online sales environments.
- E-commerce shop Storefronts for software suppliers like Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, and Wix, to name a few. Most e-commerce sellers use these stores as their online home base or flagship store.
- ecommerce marketplace — Amazon, Walmart, eBay, and many others — are also common, if not required, for online sellers. The number of marketplaces continues to grow, perhaps most prominently Temu US Seller Program.
- ecommerce mobile app Apple’s for iOS and Google’s for Android are common for corporate retailers as main storefronts or separate stores.
- social commerce storefront Includes TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, etc. Published estimates place the total global social commerce market at $2.9. Trillion. Consumers increasingly expect sellers to be present on multiple social commerce platforms.
American shoppers tend to use multiple e-commerce sales platforms, necessitating a variety of these different and sometimes iterative e-commerce sales platforms.
mixed signal
Some might argue that U.S. consumers are sending a lot of mixed signals. Consider some examples of contradictory findings.
- “49% of customers begin and end their shopping journey on a retailer’s website or app.” Hostinger Articles — Points for e-commerce shops and mobile apps.
- “Amazon accounted for 37.6% of the U.S. e-commerce market in 2023, followed by Walmart (6.4%), Apple (3.6%), eBay (3%), (and) Target (1.9%),” the magazine said. states. jungle scout — Chalk up one about marketplace platforms.
- Jungle Scout continues the discussion on marketplaces again: “56% of consumers begin their product search on Amazon.”
- “People between the ages of 18 and 34 are most interested in purchasing through social media, with approximately 73% of them saying they have purchased something through a social media channel.” SellersCommerce Articles — Validate the need to also use social commerce.
These statistics have led online sellers to use a combination of many platforms, including post-ban paranoia TikTok shops.
I used TikTok
Therefore, if, as some predict, TikTok remains in the US market and its future is no longer in question, expect a surge in sellers. Many e-commerce businesses, from small sellers to large corporations, may start offering their products on social platforms.
