Douyin, the Chinese version of the short video app TikTok, has just launched a flagship storefront function for brand accounts on its platform. It is a major strategic move for Douyin to enter the e-commerce market in China.
The newly released storefront offers features including new products, popular items, live streams, and the distribution of coupons, which can be used both online or offline. Until now, more than 220 brands, including Winona, Peacebird, and Perfect Diary have already introduced flagship stores. It is expected that more domestic and international brands will follow shortly.
Douyin-owner, ByteDance, set up its e-commerce department in June 2020 and said its gross merchandise volume (GMV) has so far exceeded 500 billion yuan ($77.5 billion), including transactions on its Douyin Xiaodian marketplace and deals directed to third-party e-commerce platforms such as JD.com and Taobao.
In January, Douyin unveiled a payment service as part of its effort to build a closed-loop e-commerce business and promoted the service during China’s Spring Festival Gala on CCTV, for which it was a major sponsor. This year, Douyin has set a target of 1 trillion yuan ($150 billion) in GMV, which would place it amongst the top echelon of e-commerce players in the China market.
