According to over a dozen job listings first spotted by Axios, TikTok is reportedly building its own shopping fulfillment centers in the US.
Jobs in Seattle and Los Angeles for a "global fulfillment center" can be found on LinkedIn. The job postings further emphasize TikTok's commitment to its e-commerce goals in the United States.
One description reads, "The e-commerce industry has seen tremendous growth in recent years and has become a hotly contested space amongst leading Internet companies, and its future growth cannot be underestimated." We think TikTok is the perfect place to introduce our users to a whole new level of e-commerce because of its massive user base.
Listings suggest that in order to "ensure fast and sustainable growth of TikTok Shop," the company will offer storage, shipping, and returns services to its merchants. Several e-commerce features, such as a program announced in the summer of 2017 that enables merchants to have Shopify-connected storefronts in TikTok, have been added to the platform.
The platform has also considered live shopping, which is extremely common in Asia but less common in other regions. The live shopping plans in the US seem to be back on after reports that TikTok was scaling back the expansion in Europe and the US, with the platform possibly partnering with TalkShopLive before the holiday shopping rush.
Even though the pace of shopping in the United States is slower than in other regions, TikTok's decision to open a warehouse similar to Amazon to house its products and handle customer service shows that the company is committed to e-commerce as a revenue stream.
TikTok did not immediately respond to The Verge's request for comment. According to an Axios report, the company plans to concentrate its e-commerce efforts in the areas where it is already established.
