On June 15, ByteDance's short video app Tik Tok said it would invest billions of dollars in Southeast Asia over the next few years.。Tik Tok did not disclose details of the investment plans, but said it would invest in training, advertising and support for smaller vendors looking to join its e-commerce platform Tik Tok Shop.。

Shou Zi Chew, CEO of Tik Tok, said at a forum organised in Jakarta: "We will invest billions of dollars in Indonesia and Southeast Asia in the coming years.。The forum aims to highlight TikTok's social and economic impact on the region.。

In terms of the number of users, it has 6.Southeast Asia, with a total population of 300 million, is one of Tik Tok's largest markets, bringing more than 3 million people to the app every month..2.5 billion visits。However, the platform has not yet converted its large user base into a major e-commerce revenue source in the region.。

Zhou said that as users increase, the content on its platform is becoming more diverse, and the company will expand from advertising to e-commerce, allowing consumers to purchase items through links on the app during live streaming.。Tik Tok employs 8,000 people in Southeast Asia and has 2 million small suppliers selling goods on its platform in Indonesia, the region's largest economy, he added.。

At present, Tik Tok's Southeast Asian expansion of its e-commerce business has two main obstacles。

For one, the company faces fierce competition from many influential competitors that have been in the local area for years, such as Shopee, a platform owned by Singapore-based Sea, Lazada, a unit of Alibaba, and Tokopedia, a unit of Goto, an Indonesian company.。

Shopee is an e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia and Taiwan。Since its launch in Singapore in 2015, Shopee's Southeast Asia footprint has expanded to include Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and more.。Shopee's rapid expansion in Southeast Asia sent its parent company Sea directly to the NYSE, and Sea was the first Southeast Asian Internet company to list on the NYSE.。2022 Shopee revenue of $7.3 billion, total orders of $7.6 billion, GMV of $73.5 billion。

Lazada, one of the largest online shopping sites in Southeast Asia。Target users in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand。Lazada Group has been Alibaba Group's flagship platform in Southeast Asia since 2016。Alibaba invested $1 billion to take control of Lazada in 2016 and increased its stake to 83% in 2017。In March 2018, Alibaba continued to invest an additional $2 billion。

Founded in 2009, Tokopedia is Indonesia's largest e-commerce platform and the most visited Indonesian website, and its parent company Goto is Indonesia's largest Internet company.。However, unlike the two businesses in Southeast Asia, Tokopedia is currently focused solely on Indonesia.。It is worth mentioning that Tokopedia has been strengthening logistics construction since last year.。It has built dozens of warehouses in six major cities in Indonesia, with the goal of achieving "one-day" and "next-day" as much as possible.。

According to consulting firm Momentum Works, e-commerce transactions in the region reached nearly $100 billion last year.。Tik Tok's merchandise turnover in Southeast Asia last year was only $4.4 billion, but it's still a long way from the $48 billion regional merchandise sales of "overlord" Shopee.。

Second, Tik Tok has been facing scrutiny from regulators in some regions when it comes to user data.。Some countries, including the UK and New Zealand, have banned the app on government phones.。Although Tik Tok said the move was a "fundamental misunderstanding" of its efforts in data security, it has not been able to dispel the concerns of the outside world.。

While Tik Tok has not faced a major ban on government equipment in Southeast Asia, its content has been under scrutiny.。Indonesia presented one of its first major global policy challenges in 2018, after authorities briefly banned Tik Tok from posting posts they deemed to contain "pornography, inappropriate content and blasphemy."。Tik Tok is facing a similar situation in Vietnam after the country's regulator said it would investigate Tik Tok's local operations because "toxic" content on the platform posed a threat to its "youth, culture and traditions."。

Despite the obstacles, Tik Tok's growth potential is impressive。In 2021, the company's merchandise turnover in Southeast Asia was only $600 million, reaching $4.4 billion in just one year, an annual increase of more than seven times.。If it keeps growing at a high rate, Tik Tok's rise in Southeast Asia is almost a certainty。And to maintain growth, there is an urgent need to increase user stickiness and turn traffic into e-commerce revenue。Tik Tok already has the "big pot" of traffic, and this additional investment is to add firewood and fire.。

Douyin in China to go the short video plus live road, but now China's domestic e-commerce competition is particularly fierce, many companies are also beginning to look overseas, and Southeast Asia adjacent to China, and mostly developing countries, is an excellent place to expand.。Tik Tok in Southeast Asia now has the flow of this "cauldron," the money to increase investment is "add wood to add fire," this fire can burn more prosperous, depends on the ability of Tik Tok。