![]() When third-party links were still supported in livestreams on Douyin, Taobao would charge product merchants commissions of up to 20 per cent of the transaction amount for purchases that occurred on Taobao or Tmall after being redirected from a Douyin livestream. The social platform’s only role is to direct them there.īut traffic always comes at a price. ![]() In most cases, these social platforms do not serve as a real e-commerce channel, and consumers will eventually be diverted to third-party platforms to place orders. ![]() These efforts have become an essential step in bridging the consumer journey on social platforms. With Instagram’s native Shops feature, users can even make purchases directly within the app now.Īlthough Chinese social platforms do not follow the same model as Instagram, the path to commercialisation for social platforms has been built upon the same tactics, such as adding purchase links in the content, launching brand-owned shops or introducing e-commerce functionality in livestreams. In 2016, Instagram introduced shoppable tags in posts, allowing users to be instantly directed to the website to purchase by clicking on tags within photos – a feature utilised by many brands, celebrities and media outlets. It has become clear that social media needs to break the barriers between discovery and purchase along the consumer journey – something that can now be done with the help of new functions. This problem is not limited to the Chinese market but is also prevalent in the West. At the same time, it is also challenging for brands to measure the success of content in terms of driving conversions based on traditional social media metrics. However, brands have also started to see the limitations using social media purely for generating awareness and amplification – a large number of consumers tend be lost during the content to purchase transition process. This can be in the form of content in collaboration with celebrities, influencers or media. When consumers gained a certain level of interest and had the appetite for a purchase, they would go to offline stores or e-commerce platforms (e.g., Taobao or Tmall) to make the transaction.Īs brands continue to increase their investment in China's various digital platforms, they are able to reach an even wider audience through a variety of ways. Brands would leverage social media (e.g., Weibo, WeChat) largely for the purposes of generating awareness. Years ago, when the digital transformation of international brands in China was still in its infancy, the online consumer journey was much simpler. This is even more so for Douyin – and as a social platform that has captured the attention of younger generations, it might prove to be an even more interesting testing ground for international brands to develop their social commerce operations. With the growing impact of Chinese social media on the consumer decision making process, and the emergence of new online shopping models such as livestreaming, the development of an e-commerce business seems to be the way to go for Chinese social platforms. In January this year, Douyin officially launched its payment service, "Douyin Pay", streamlining the payment process for users when it comes to shopping and even purchasing virtual livestream gifts.ĭouyin is not the first platform tapping into social commerce in China – Weibo, RED and Kuaishou have all rolled out their own e-commerce propositions. Links in short videos, however, are not affected. As of last October, Douyin no longer supports product links from third-parties (such as Tmall or JD.com) in livestreams, allowing only links from the Douyin Store (its native e-commerce storefront). It has also been reported that Douyin plans to relocate its entire e-commerce team to Shanghai, where it will manage production, research and operations of its e-commerce business unit.Īt the same time, Douyin has also been working on developing its product offering. In early June last year, it set up a dedicated e-commerce business unit in hopes of making it the company’s third pillar of revenue, after advertising and livestreaming. ByteDance, the Chinese tech company that has received a great deal of attention from the Western world for its popular short video App Douyin/Tik Tok, has been working to consolidate and build its e-commerce business.
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