TikTok Shop Seller Commission Increases! TikTok expands STEM to Europe!

△TikTok Shop Seller Commission Increase

According to Tuke, TikTok has adjusted its seller commission policy, raising the commission rate from 2% to 6% of the total order amount. This policy change means that TikTok Shop may gradually withdraw from the ultra-low-price product market, while also posing new challenges for small sellers.

Since its launch in the US in September 2023, TikTok Shop has benefited small merchants by offering ultra-low-price products through subsidy strategies for sellers and consumers, providing deals that are hard to match on other platforms. However, with the increase in commission rates, even if TikTok Shop continues to offer discounts and free shipping on selected items, small businesses that rely on low-cost strategies to attract customers may face pressure.

TikTok stated that to help sellers smoothly transition to the new fee model, it will gradually increase service fees and plans to further raise the commission rate to 8% on July 1.

Currently, sellers face the choice of either raising product prices to offset increased costs or maintaining low-price strategies to stay competitive in the market. However, even if they choose to remain competitive, TikTok Shop's fee levels are still lower than major competitors such as Amazon and Etsy.

△TikTok Expands STEM to Europe

Amidst public opinion storms regarding "negative impacts on adolescent mental health" and "causing student internet addiction," TikTok recently announced that its education-focused content community STEM Feed will expand from the US to Europe, as a response to these criticisms and accusations. The channel is planned to launch first in the UK and Ireland.

TikTok stated that there are currently over one billion users worldwide discovering new knowledge, showcasing their personalities, and participating in interest communities on its platform. To help users explore topics related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics more deeply, TikTok has specially launched the STEM Feed, aiming to provide users with video content that is both interesting and thought-provoking.

According to relevant data, since STEM Feed was launched in the US last year, 33% of users have browsed the channel, and one-third of teenage users visit it at least once a week. In the past three years, TikTok users worldwide have published nearly 15 million STEM-related videos.

To ensure the high quality of STEM Feed content, TikTok has also strengthened its cooperation with Common Sense Networks and Poynter. Common Sense Networks is responsible for evaluating the tone of submitted videos to ensure they meet the standards suitable for STEM Feed, while Poynter is responsible for verifying the accuracy of the information provided in the videos. Only after passing both review processes will video content appear on STEM Feed.

△TikTok Raked in $189 Million Globally in February

Despite facing multiple challenges from the US market, TikTok has still demonstrated its strong revenue-generating capability.

According to Forbes, in February 2024, TikTok topped the app revenue rankings with an astonishing $189 million in global income, followed by YouTube with $111 million.

In fact, TikTok's achievement is no accident. Data from mobile analytics service provider AppFigures shows that in several months of 2023, including January, February, September, and November, TikTok consistently held the top spot for global app revenue.

△TikTok Shop Competitors Ramp Up Livestream E-commerce

According to Tuke, Shopee Thailand has officially announced an upgrade to its service configuration to strengthen its competitiveness in the livestream e-commerce sector, especially in competition with TikTok Shop.

Suchaya Paleewong, Shopee Thailand's head of marketing, pointed out that the company's service enhancements will focus on leveraging experienced KOLs to promote its affiliate marketing program, and strengthening livestream and video sales functions, aiming to build closer connections with customers.

In fact, Shopee launched its livestream feature, Shopee Live, as early as 2020. Later, influenced by TikTok, it introduced the short video feature Shopee Video in the fourth quarter of 2023, allowing users to create content.

According to Shopee's 2023 annual financial report, as of December 2023, Shopee's total order volume reached 8.2 billion, with total sales of $78.5 billion, of which orders generated by livestream accounted for about 15% of the total order volume. This shows that livestream e-commerce has become one of the key factors driving Shopee's performance growth.

In this regard, the chairman of Shopee's parent company, Sea, emphasized that the economic benefits brought by the livestream function "enable us to effectively compete with our competitors."

Shopee's increased efforts have put pressure on TikTok's livestream e-commerce development in Thailand. However, there are many examples of turning pressure into motivation, and TikTok clearly has this capability. Therefore, we are very much looking forward to the future development of TikTok's livestream e-commerce in Thailand.