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TikTok reportedly abandons plans to roll out live shopping feature

By Rachel Douglass

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Business

Image: Pexels, Cottonbro

Social media app TikTok has reportedly scrapped its plans to expand its live e-commerce feature in Europe and the US, after the initiative was met with internal problems and struggled to attract consumers.

Launched as a trial in the UK, its first venture outside its home country of China, ‘TikTok Shop’ allowed influencers to sell products through live broadcasts.

According to the Financial Times, the video platform was planning to bring the feature to Germany, France, Italy and Spain in the first half of this year, before expanding into the US later in 2022.

However, the plans were abandoned after the UK project was said to have failed in meeting targets and influencers dropped out of the scheme.

A source close to the publication said on the feature that the “market just isn’t there yet”, adding that consumer awareness and adoption was low. The report continued that many of the livestreams had achieved poor sales despite incentives set to encourage participation.

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