TikTok has a promising future: global revenue reaches new highs, and the trend towards live streaming e-commerce is evident

2023 was a year of overall turbulence in the broader environment, but even in such circumstances, Douyin and its overseas version Tuke, both under ByteDance, continued to achievesteady growth.

According to intelligence data from the digital analytics platformSensor Tower, in May 2023, Douyin and its overseas version Tuke generated over$258 million in app store revenue worldwide, once again becoming thechampion of global mobile app (non-game) revenue rankings. Among them, Douyin's revenue share in the Chinese market was about 36%, followed by the US market at 21.6%, and Saudi Arabia ranked third, contributing 3.9% of the revenue.

Ranking second on the revenue list was Google One, whose revenue grew by 143.7% compared to the same period last year. Of this, 65.8% of the revenue came from the US market, with Japan ranking second, contributing 3.4% of the revenue.

In addition, YouTube, Tinder, and Piccoma also made it into the top five of the list.

This shows that Tuke's appeal in overseas markets is very considerable. Although in September this year, Tuke Shop was completely shut down in Indonesia, causing a setback for Tuke's social monetization in Indonesia, Tuke still has 3.5 billion downloads worldwide and over 1.5 billion+ monthly active users. In terms of social media alone, Tuke remains a huge opportunity for major brands and shop sellers.

Becausetraffic is king, having traffic means it is easier to reach a large audience, thereby increasing the possibility of attracting potential customers.

Moreover, judging from the booming live-streaming e-commerce in China, global e-commerce live-streaming has become inevitable. Multiple overseas e-commerce platforms have already started experimenting with live-streaming sales, striving to build local live-streaming e-commerce platforms overseas, just like in China.

However, they do not possess Tuke'snatural advantages—having the experience of a mature Chinese e-commerce system to draw from, as well as a massive overseas user base.

Therefore,Tuke's prospects are very promising, while overseas live-streaming e-commerce is just getting started.

Nevertheless, it is still very difficult to leverage domestic live-streaming e-commerce experience to master Tuke. Cultural differences mean that every path in live-streaming e-commerce will have its distinctions, just as videos that are popular in China may not be popular abroad, and influencers with huge fan bases in China may not be recognized overseas.

For domestic merchants wanting to enter Tuke, they still need to operate according to overseas rules and gradually nurture their stores step by step.

Just like Douyin in China, Tuke at this stage has already moved past the earliest stage of merchants simply listing products, so merchants entering Tuke should try tofocus on one category as their main area, and under the main category, choose aprofessional and vertical track. Try to refine and specialize the products in your category. Pay more attention to the user group corresponding to the product and their needs.

In addition, user experience is also very important. From the early days of Taobao in China and Amazon abroad, it is clear that the positive review rate greatly influences customers' purchasing behavior. Therefore, while improving the shopping experience, it is also necessary to provide good after-sales service and guide customers to leavepositive reviews.

When problems such as order logistics arise, you need to help users and the platform resolve issues promptly. Only when the number of positive reviews from users increases will the store's orders steadily improve. Providing a good user experience is not only a way to comply with platform regulations, but also a necessary condition for merchants to maintain store profitability!

Tuke has already entered a stage of standardization and process optimization, and has begun to select better and more capable sellers through various indicators. Therefore, merchants should try to improve all indicators of their stores to avoid store closures due to various reasons when the platform conducts strict inspections.