From the creators of TikTok, ByteDance comes to try to unseat Alibaba in e-commerce. (Bloomberg)
Zhang Yiming made ByteDance the world’s most valuable private company through a series of highly successful apps like TikTok that challenged Facebook and other established operators on their own turf. His next target: Alibaba.
The 38-year-old AI coding genius, looking for ByteDance’s next big act, has set his sights on China’s 1.7 trillion e-commerce field. The co-founder has hired thousands of employees and hired big-name backers like Xiaomi Corp entrepreneur Lei Jun to power what he calls his next “big breakthrough” in global business: selling things to consumers through its addictive short videos and live streams.
That effort will test not only Zhang’s magic touch with ByteDance’s app creation and artificial intelligence magic, but also the reception from investors ahead of one of the most anticipated Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) in the tech world.
.
ByteDance requests license in China to sell TikTok
ByteDance requests license in China to sell TikTok
Its startup is already starting to make waves in an industry long controlled by Alibaba Group Holding and Jack Ma’s JD.com.
In 2020, it sold about $ 26 billion worth of makeup, clothing, and other merchandise, achieving in its first year what Alibaba’s Taobao took six years to accomplish. It’s targeting more than $ 185 billion by 2022. Douyin, TikTok’s Chinese twin, is expected to contribute more than half of the firm’s $ 40 billion national ad sales this year, boosted by partly by electronic commerce.
“Short video platforms have so much traffic that they can do basically any business,” said Shawn Yang, managing director of Blue Lotus Capital Advisors. “Douyin is not only found in advertisements, but also in live broadcasts, e-commerce, local life services and search. This has a lot of room for imagination. ”
A burgeoning e-commerce business could help the company surpass its $ 250 billion valuation when it goes public, countering concerns about Beijing’s crackdown on the country’s internet giants. Preparations are said to be underway for a listing that would be one of the most anticipated debuts in the world. While ByteDance won’t handle the sales or merchandise itself, it hopes to sell more ads to merchants, increase traffic, and get a piece of the business.
The startup of this unknown young man is about to overtake Uber and be the most valuable in the world
The internet giant is a late entrant in China’s social commerce scene, where influencers promote products to fans as a Gen-Z version of the Home Shopping Network. The format, started by Alibaba as a marketing tool in 2016, took on a life of its own last year when COVID-19 spurred demand for home entertainment.
Last year, Alibaba’s Taobao Live generated more than 400 billion yuan ($ 62 billion) of gross merchandise value, and Kuaishou Technology’s social platforms hosted 381 billion yuan in transactions, more than double the Douyin.
ByteDance has its interest-based and AI-based recommendations to help your eCommerce business get up to speed. At a flashy launch party for the year-long business last month, executives explained that the company intends to replicate its success with the use of artificial intelligence algorithms to feed user content into online purchases.
How does Bytedance help small traders?
Since Kang took over as director of e-commerce, Douyin has banned live streamers from selling items listed on third-party sites and invited them to open their own in-app stores, preventing rivals such as Alibaba and JD.com Inc. benefit from them. your traffic.
He has grown a team of customer support staff from just one hundred to about 1,900 to combat counterfeiting and is hiring for more than 900 positions to support the business. ByteDance also has an online matchmaking system that helps connect merchants with influencers and their agencies, and has established physical foundations to host live streamers and merchandise, similar to what Alibaba does.
Source:https://www.elfinanciero.com.mx/tech/2021/05/09/tiktok-conquisto-el-mundo-cual-es-el-siguiente-proyecto-de-sus-creadores/
