A top TikTok shopping exec explains its US growth strategy, from partnering with agencies to building up livestreaming

• TikTok Shop is preparing for nan vacation play arsenic it crosses 1 twelvemonth since its US launch.
• The institution is pushing unrecorded shopping, influencer partnerships, and different trading tactics.
• BI said pinch Nico Le Bourgeois, caput of US operations, to study much astir its strategy.

TikTok is laser-focused connected shopping.

Its e-commerce feature, Shop, which launched successful nan US astir a twelvemonth ago, has grown steadily arsenic users person go much accustomed to buying products via short videos and livestreams — though immoderate still get nan ick from shopping content.

The institution has courted a roster of creators to beforehand products successful speech for a committee connected sales. It useful pinch hundreds of agency partners to coordinate unrecorded trading sessions and springiness retired free samples to influencers. It has its ain logistics business pinch six US warehouses, and is successful nan early stages of connecting creators pinch manufacturers to make civilization products.

It's doing each of this because nan business opportunity successful societal shopping could beryllium huge.

Social commerce drives hundreds of billions successful income annually connected TikTok's sister app successful China, Douyin. If TikTok tin replicate moreover a fraction of Douyin's e-commerce prowess successful nan US, it would beryllium a money-making machine.

In a Wednesday question and reply pinch Business Insider astatine a institution arena successful New York, TikTok Shop's caput of US operations Nico Le Bourgeois talked astir really nan institution plans to get much US consumers to clasp unrecorded shopping, really he thinks astir nan domiciled of influencers successful e-commerce, and what nan institution hopes will hap connected Shop this vacation season.

Prior to joining TikTok, Le Bourgeois spent 9 years astatine Amazon wherever he oversaw its seller marketplace and different parts of its unit operations.

Below are excerpts from that conversation, which person been edited for magnitude and clarity:

When you deliberation astir this vacation season, what does occurrence look like?

Obviously, we want to waste a lot. There's a batch of businesses that trust connected america for Q4, truthful we want to make them proud. I deliberation much importantly, we want to make judge that we are existent to our ngo of merchandise discovery. We want group to observe caller products. To beryllium surprised. To consciousness for illustration shopping tin beryllium different. And arsenic a portion of that, if we tin person galore customers shop successful unrecorded and recognize that this is really cool, I deliberation we will person done a bully job.

How do you deliberation astir introducing TikTok users to unrecorded shopping?

It's a batch of work. We person to build a complete ecosystem from scratch pinch nan correct agencies, nan correct brands. Not everybody's fresh for it. We person to amended customers.

I cognize that you person immoderate studios that your partners tin usage to do unrecorded selling. Not everyone tin group up a workplace to participate, but really important is nan look?

Retail is detail, and I would opportunity that applies to live, too. There's a batch of specifications to beryllium very bully astatine unrecorded shows, starting pinch quality. The cameras, nan studio, nan environment, selecting nan products, et cetera. We person studios successful LA. We person studios successful Seattle. We person studios successful New York. There's a batch of agencies now having built their ain capabilities, truthful we are not short of capacity for unrecorded shows now successful nan US.

I americium really funny astir this thought of nan TikTok Shop creator ... How do you deliberation astir moving pinch that cohort and utilizing them to thief turn nan platform?

When we started, location weren't millions of creators doing shopping content. People came, they were interested, they came naturally, and they registered, and measurement by step, they learned really to do it. We besides brought a batch much products. So we person this flywheel of nan much creators you have, nan much products you have, and nan much creators are excited.

You find group that you ne'er knew they could really beryllium awesome sellers connected TikTok. They find their career. They find their thing, and they go huge.

You person agency partners that thief pinch creators, thief pinch sellers. How do you consciousness astir that strategy? Is that going to proceed to beryllium a focus?

Yeah, it's an astonishing strategy and large attraction for us. This week, I was successful New York for nan full week gathering a batch of partners. Decentralizing and having independent companies moving pinch america successful business fosters truthful overmuch productivity and astonishing ideas that our squad could not have. I consciousness truthful energized by nan model.

When you deliberation astir competitor set, do you deliberation of yourself much successful nan class of for illustration a Walmart, Amazon, Shopify? Where do you spot yourself?

We deliberation we person a unsocial positioning. If we travel successful nan US to conflict against Amazon, I don't deliberation it's going to work. So we are profoundly focused connected merchandise discovery, which is simply a wholly different measurement of shopping. Customers don't search, they people spell connected TikTok to beryllium entertained, and past they find products that astatine immoderate constituent they find interesting, useful, and past they extremity up buying it. So they spot it. They for illustration it. They bargain it. That's what we are trying to develop.

Are you readying to do much description connected nan logistics side?

Yeah. It's really ace important for us.

We want to beryllium fun. But we besides cognize that you request to get delivered to beautiful fast. We request to person a coagulated experience. So, arsenic we scale, we're investing much there.

How do you deliberation astir world coordination? Are you moving a batch pinch folks successful different markets?

We are heads down successful nan US processing nan business, bringing much brands, and I deliberation we're trying to create a existent US-centric business. Probably UK is going to beryllium different. China is very different.

If nan law to prohibition aliases divest TikTok goes through, I deliberation January 19th is nan deadline unless thing happens successful nan courts, is this connected your mind astatine all? Does it impact finance astatine all?

For us, we're truthful overmuch into our ngo to create find e-commerce. Just focused connected everybody — nan teams, nan creators, nan brands. Everybody is focused connected processing nan business.