ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok aims to grow the size of its US e-commerce business tenfold to as much as $17.5 billion this year, according to people familiar with the matter, posing a bigger threat to Amazon.com Inc.

The 2024 merchandise volume goal for the US version of TikTok Shop — which melds online entertainment with impulse buying — was discussed in internal meetings in recent weeks and may still change depending on how the business goes, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing private information.

TikTok’s ambitious target sets up a clash not just with Amazon but also fellow Chinese-owned outfits Temu and Shein, who’ve been making big strides among younger American shoppers. Unlike its two rival discounters, TikTok is counting on its social media reach and the appeal of viral videos to hook buyers….

TikTok Shop lets users buy items while scrolling through a perpetual feed of short videos and live streams within its main social media app, hoping consumers use it as an alternative to Amazon or Sea Ltd.’s Shopee. That format — an effort to combine the ease of shopping on Amazon with the product discovery afforded by apps like Meta’s Instagram — has already helped Douyin snatch a significant portion of Chinese consumer spending from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and JD.com Inc., particularly after lockdown rules during the pandemic drove people to spend more time online.

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Huang, Z., Barinka, A., Cao, D., & Poh, O. (2024, January 3). TikTok Eyes $17.5 Billion Shopping Business on Amazon’s Turf. Bloomberg. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-03/tiktok-eyes-17-5-billion-shopping-business-on-amazon-s-turf