TikTok Shop Officially Launched In Vietnam: Is It A New Opportunity Or A Helpless Move?

Recently, TikTok e-commerce has made another big move.

"TK Overseas Diary" learned that there is news that the TikTokShop mall has announced its official launch in Vietnam, and the products in the mall will be guaranteed to be 100% authentic.

Data shows that the number of seller-side visits to TikTokShop Vietnam in August this year has reached 7.2 million, an increase of 1.3 million from 5.9 million in June this year, and the growth rate is very strong.

In the Internet era, where users are concentrated, there are business opportunities.

TikTokShop’s online shopping mall function in Vietnam, does it mean that TikTok is constantly refreshing the upper limit of e-commerce business in Vietnam?

1Vietnam Mall is finally online

According to relevant media reports, Vietnamese TikTok users can see the mall entrance in the function bar below after entering the APP. They can also enter the TikTokShop mall by clicking on the "show window" on the Internet celebrity's homepage.

It is reported that the TikTokShop mall has concentrated domestic and foreign brands, sellers and agents in beauty, fashion, electronics and other categories. The platform will provide consumers with services such as free nationwide shipping and free and easy returns within 15 days.

Vietnam TikTokShop mall page source: TuoiTre

It is worth noting that under the mall model, merchants who are already operating in content e-commerce will have access to new traffic exposure resources in addition to live broadcasts and short videos, that is, through the shelf-style presentation of products to promote the conversion of shopping traffic .

In addition, TikTokShop Vietnam Mall has also launched special activities for brands, such as Brand Day. Brands can also have priority in participating in exclusive activities or new activities launched exclusively for partners, and receive free shipping discounts. Brands that register for TikTokShopMall will receive an exclusive exposure package, which may greatly improve sellers' performance.

In fact, TikTokshop mall is not new. Starting from February 2023, TikTokshop mall has been officially launched in Thailand and the Philippines. Therefore, the time to launch in Vietnam is already nearly a year later than the two neighboring countries.

Similar to the malls on the Vietnam site, the entrances to TikTokshop malls in the Philippines and Thailand are also located in a prominent position on the TikTok homepage, that is, the second tab, making it easy for all users to access. This will lead to a significant increase in traffic and exposure.

It is particularly worth noting that as TikTok fully launched its e-commerce business in the US market, the "mall" entrance was fully launched on the TikTok APP homepage this summer. At that time, there was a view that it would become a strong source of traffic for this Black Friday promotion.

2Is the expansion of efforts in Vietnam a helpless move for TikTok e-commerce?

For TikTok, the Southeast Asian market in recent months has been really not “peaceful”.

The most important incident is that due to the impact of Indonesia's new e-commerce bill this year, TikTokShop was forced to close the e-commerce business of the Indonesian site on October 4 this year.

Although TikTok's e-commerce business in Indonesia has been shut down, the pace of development cannot be stopped. It is also the general trend to continue to roll up its sleeves and work hard on other sites in Southeast Asia.

In Southeast Asia, Indonesia is TikTok’s largest market in Southeast Asia, followed by Vietnam and other countries. Naturally, the burden fell on Vietnam.

However, since October, official departments including Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and other countries have also announced increased regulatory measures against TikTok Shop.

According to the Business Times on October 10, Vietnam has completed a nearly five-month investigation into TikTok and determined that it violated various laws such as e-commerce and information security.

Fortunately, the situation in Vietnam is not as bad as some people predicted. According to reports, Vietnam requires TikTok to deal with various violations and promises to make specific adjustments and notify relevant Vietnamese authorities in writing within 30 days. In other words, it is completely different from Indonesia’s “one size fits all” approach to TikTokshop.

Sellers on the TikTokShop Vietnam site can breathe a sigh of relief. As long as the market doesn’t close, there will always be opportunities!

According to public data, although it just entered the Vietnamese market last year, TikTokShop has developed rapidly in the market. As of the third quarter of this year, its share of the Vietnamese e-commerce market has reached 16%, second only to Shopee. This fully demonstrates TikTokShop’s competitive strength and potential in the Vietnamese market.