It’s possible that TikTok won’t stop live shopping in the US after all. The Financial Times says that the company wants to work with TalkShopLive to bring live shopping features to North America.
TalkShopLive is a live shopping platform based in Los Angeles. The Financial Times pointed out that Walmart and Microsoft‘s MSN use it to live-stream shopping. Through the partnership, TalkShopLive’s technology could be used by TikTok to let creators host live shopping sessions on TikTok. Brands would also be able to broadcast the stream to their own websites at the same time.
A report from FT in July said that TikTok was cutting back on live shopping in the US and Europe after its trial in the UK didn’t go very well. Even though the company’s deal with TalkShopLive hasn’t been set in stone, it could mean that TikTok isn’t done with live shopping just yet, at least not in North America.
The FT says that if TikTok goes through with the partnership, live shopping could start “with big brands over the next month,” just in time for the holiday season. Since last year, TikTok has been experimenting with shopping features. They just added a Shop tab to the app for users in Indonesia.
Live shopping hasn’t caught on outside of Asia, where QVC-style live streams on Douyin, TikTok’s Chinese sister app, have done well. Even though this is the case, companies like TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, and Amazon are still trying out the feature in other places. Even Facebook tried live shopping, but in August, the company said it was shutting down the feature so it could focus on Reels. (You can still do live shopping on Instagram, though.)
TikTok told the FT in a statement that it is “constantly exploring new and different options for how we can best serve our community, creators, and merchants in markets around the world.” This could include “partnerships that further support a seamless e-commerce experience for merchants.” The Verge asked TikTok for a comment, but the company didn’t answer right away.
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