Tiktok wants to invest billions of dollars in Southeast Asia

ByteDance's TikTok plans to invest billions of dollars in Southeast Asia over the next three to five years, as the Chinese giant looks to expand its presence in the region.

At an event in Jakarta today, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said the company wants to “invest proportionately” in the opportunity Southeast Asia presents. TikTok has more than 8,000 employees in the region, including nearly 2,000 in Indonesia.

The app is betting on markets like Indonesia to drive growth in its e-commerce business, where users can quickly shop for items they want by scrolling through endless short videos and livestreams on the app.

The gross merchandise value of goods sold through TikTok Shop exceeded $2.5 billion in Indonesia last year and hit $1 billion in the first three months of this year, according to e-commerce research firm Cube Asia.

ByteDance - TikTok's parent company, founded more than a decade ago by Zhang Yiming and Liang Rubo, has grown into a $200 billion internet empire thanks to the popularity of short video platforms TikTok and Douyin.

Launched in 2021, TikTok Shop quickly gained attention thanks to TikTok's viral and user retention algorithms, which attracted more and more people to its videos and livestreams.

According to Bloomberg , the app is betting the most on Southeast Asian markets, including Vietnam and Indonesia - where influencers on the platform sell everything from clothes to lipstick during livestreams.

TikTok’s push into e-commerce is posing a growing challenge to rivals including Amazon and Shopee. The Chinese giant aims to quadruple the size of its global e-commerce business to $20 billion in gross merchandise value this year, as it eyes expansion into the U.S. and Europe.

While live shopping has yet to take off in the US and Europe despite efforts from Instagram and others, TikTok is betting on the success of Douyin, a Chinese-language version of TikTok that has become popular in China.

Minh Son ( according to Bloomberg )

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