TikTok is jumping into the driver’s seat as it looks to grow its e-commerce business.
The company is rolling out a new managed services program in the US that will give it much more control over the performance of some of its e-commerce sellers, according to documentation viewed by Business Insider.
The company is currently seeking participants for a pilot program in which it will oversee almost all aspects of a merchant’s Shop business, including marketing, running automated ads and test creatives through its GMV Max tool, optimizing product listings, hiring creators, and creating content (including hundreds of AI-generated videos).
Sellers will still be responsible for getting products listed on Shop and sending free samples to influencers, but not much else. Enrolling in the program will cost sellers a $10,000 flat fee plus a 10% to 20% commission per sale, depending on a brand’s product category, per the documentation. The program is open to both US local sellers and foreign companies that sell in the US.
TikTok did not respond to a request for comment.
TikTok Shop’s move into managed services will put it in direct competition with its Shop agency partners, which assist brands with tasks such as hiring creator affiliates and running ad campaigns. The company has leaned heavily on those third-party partners to get its US e-commerce business off the ground since launching in 2023.
Its hands-on approach differs from other US e-commerce players like Amazon and Walmart that offer some managed services around fulfillment or customer service, but tend to direct brands toward self-serve portals for other tasks.
TikTok’s managed service pilot, set to kick off in August, is the latest in a series of recent changes within the Shop ecosystem that have put more of the business under its direct control. In September, TikTok made it mandatory for Shop brands to use its AI advertising tool, GMV Max, when running ads, for example. Earlier this year, the company planned to require all sellers to switch to its shipping and logistics program, Fulfilled by TikTok, but ultimately backed off the policy change.
The direct-control strategy mirrors that of its sister app in China, Douyin, said Fabian Ouwehand, founder of the social-commerce firm Socialscale.ai.
“In China, it’s a more common strategy, especially for Douyin and Xiaohongshu,” Ouwehand said, referring to the app known as RedNote in the US.
“It feels kind of like this is another experiment they’re running, which proved on Douyin to be pretty successful, to offer that support network directly from the company itself,” he said.
TikTok’s business has started to look more like Douyin’s over the last few years as its e-commerce leadership has shifted more to executives with experience working on the Chinese app, employees told Business Insider last year.
TikTok Shop has grown into a formidable e-commerce actor in the US, tracking toward more than $23 billion in US sales this year, according to a forecast from EMARKETER, Business Insider’s sister company. It remains a small piece of overall US e-commerce sales when compared to Amazon, which EMARKETER projects will surpass $500 billion in US sales in 2026.
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