Walmart said Thursday, Aug. 27, that it's interested in teaming up with Microsoft to buy the U.S. business of TikTok, the popular Chinese video app.
Walmart said Thursday, Aug. 27, that it's interested in teaming up with Microsoft to buy the U.S. business of TikTok, the popular Chinese video app. NEW YORK -- Walmart may be the world's largest retailer but it has mostly failed in its efforts to break Amazon's online dominance.TikTok's U.S. business appears up for grabs, with the Trump administration trying to force a sale, claiming national-security risks due to its Chinese owner, ByteDance.
TikTok's e-commerce business is small today but it says it has 100 million users in the U.S. -- incredibly, nearly a third of the country. Many are young, the type of shopper increasingly difficult to reach via traditional media and advertising. Walmart's online sales have been growing tremendously, nearly doubling in the last quarter, with much of that growth coming during the coronavirus outbreak from people buying groceries online and then picking them up at the store. But the Bentonville, Arkansas, behemoth is still a distant second to Amazon, estimated to take in just 6% of all online sales in the U.S. this year, compared to Amazon's 38%, according to market research firm eMarketer.
Walmart could make TikTok into an extension of its sales machine, helping advertisers, creators and others sell products. TikTok users swiping through and buying as part of their experience on the app might not even know of a Walmart connection. In TikTok's U.S. app today, some influencers and brands have links posted in their profiles that users can click on and buy things. Some advertisers post links in short videos that crop up in between creators' videos. Disney Plus, for example, had a TikTok video ad that let users sign up for the streaming service.
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