TikTok Shop

TikTok Shop is an e-commerce feature of the video hosting service TikTok. Launched in November 2022, the feature enables users interested in starting a business and generating income to upload their curated products on TikTok for others to discover. Users have the option to purchase these products, which are available for a price.

On average, TikTok Shop purchases generate approximately US$7 million per day, totaling US$17.5 billion annually.

History
In October 2020, TikTok announced its partnership with Shopify for a feature called TikTok: For Business. This collaboration laid the groundwork for the eventual launch of TikTok Shop.

In November 2022, ByteDance commenced beta testing of the platform in the United Kingdom and several Southeast Asian countries. In December 2022, Amazon announced the release of Amazon Inspire, a platform resembling TikTok Shop, in a bid to compete with TikTok itself.

In September 2023, ByteDance announced the launch of TikTok Shop globally, which was notably influenced by Amazon Inspire.

Criticism and controversies
Since its launch, TikTok Shop has encountered issues related to misinformation about products, reviews made by generative artificial intelligence to promote certain products, review bombs, and instances of scamming.