Your favorite influencer just bought a vivid new shade of lipstick, and it suits her perfectly. You’re admiring the product on TikTok, and with only a few taps, without stopping the stream, you can buy the exact same shade too. As TikTok intermingles social media and e-commerce, it is betting that this vision of shopping will knock aside rivals in the Southeast Asia market.
The short-form video streaming giant, which is owned by China’s ByteDance, is in a race to dominate e-commerce in the region. Facing growing regulatory scrutiny in the U.S. — the biggest market for the app with 116 million users — TikTok is increasingly investing in its second biggest market: Indonesia, which had 113 million app users as of April, according to Statista. Outside Indonesia, it’s ramping up its focus on Thailand and Malaysia too.
In June, TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew said the company planned to invest “billions of dollars” in Southeast Asia, with Indonesia playing a critical part in the strategy.