TikTok joins the Black Friday shopping war with force, will Amazon sellers’ traffic be at risk?

Last Saturday, Bloomberg reported, citing insiders, that the short video platform hopes to attract more consumers to its newly launched e-commerce platform by bombarding it with big discounts during the holiday shopping season.

Some industry insiders speculated that TikTok's campaign was aimed directly at e-commerce giants Amazon and Walmart.

Bloomberg reported that TikTok may launch discount subsidies of up to 50% during this year's holiday shopping season to attract more sellers to participate in its Black Friday event, which is expected to start on October 27 and last until November 30.

With such generous discount subsidies, many Amazon and Walmart sellers are worried that a lot of traffic may be snatched away during this year's Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday. Many sellers are also considering entering TikTok as soon as possible before the holiday season to grab a wave of traffic.

It is understood that TikTok currently has about 150 million American users. It has been testing the shopping function since last year and finally officially launched its shopping platform to American users last week.

“TikTok Shop will now bring shopping cart-enabled short videos and livestreams to a nationwide scale in the U.S. and provide brands, merchants, and creators with tools to sell directly through the app,” the company said in a statement.

It is reported that the shopping function will include a product display window where users can browse product information, read reviews, and place orders directly from their favorite brands.

In addition, the feature will also have an affiliate program where creators and merchants can be connected through a "commission-based marketing approach," allowing creators to earn a share of sales by sharing products in short videos and live broadcasts.

U.S. shoppers are expected to spend as much as $284 billion during this year's holiday season, according to a Bloomberg report citing data from Deloitte.

However, foreign media reported last month that retailers' recent financial reports may indicate that people may still be hesitant about whether to shop during the holiday season as more and more businesses begin to struggle to attract more consumers.

In addition, PYMNTS's "Consumer Inflation Sentiment" report in July this year also showed a continued decline in sentiment. The report showed that consumers predicted that inflation would continue until around March 2025, which is basically consistent with the Federal Reserve's forecast.

At the same time, the debt held by American households is also rising. The most recent Federal Reserve data on the lending performance of large banks showed that American household debt reached $17 trillion in the second quarter of this year, and credit card debt exceeded $1 trillion in recent months.

These data suggest that sellers and platforms may not bet too much on this year's holiday season, as consumers' shopping intentions remain to be seen.

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