TikTok plans to offer steep holiday discounts in a monthlong campaign that will begin in late October, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg. The social media app aims to lure inflation-battered shoppers to its new online marketplace, taking the first shot in a price war with established competitors Amazon.com Inc. and Walmart Inc.
TikTok, owned by Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd., is hosting training sessions next week with merchants selling on its marketplace. It is offering to subsidize discounts of as much as 50% to entice sellers’ participation in its Black Friday program, which begins Oct. 27 and runs through Nov. 30, according to the documents. A TikTok spokesperson confirmed the plans.
The company is betting that the busy holiday period — when US shoppers are projected to spend as much as $284 billion, according to Deloitte — will be a key time to stand out with discounts that compel shoppers to spend money on its new marketplace, which recently launched to US users of its app.
Source: Bloomberg
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