TikTok expands e-commerce arm into France, Germany and Italy

Social media platform TikTok has expanded its e-commerce arm to France, Germany and Italy. Users in these countries will be able to browse and buy directly from the site. 

This expansion into Europe comes as TikTok is under fire in the United States and facing the threat of an outright ban. 

The site allows businesses, brands and creators to market their products directly to TikTok users. Sellers range from individual craft sellers and small- to medium-sized enterprises to luxury goods stores selling second-hand designer handbags.

The shop has been active in the United Kingdom since 2021. Jan Wilk, the head of operations at TikTok Shop UK, said TikTok hoped to slide right into the European e-commerce ecosystem.

"My own expectation for Europe is to launch with more speed than we did in the UK," he said. "In the UK four years ago this model was very new, we had to do a lot of education, we had to try out a lot of things to get the right fit."

Partnering up

TikTok will partner up with supermarket Carrefour in France, while the German team will include fashion firm About You and cosmetics brand Cosnova. What the platform allows users to do is to run a live stream to sell goods and earn a commission from the purchases made.

TikTok Shop has also been available in the United States since September 2023, and saw strong sales over the 2024 Christmas period – but this European expansion comes as the hours are ticking down for TikTok's future in the United States. 

Donald Trump has given TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance until the end of this week to find an American buyer, or face being blocked to U.S. users. Trump has, however, also suggested that if negotiations progress, an extension to Saturday's ban deadline could be possible.

Trump has had a turbulent relationship with TikTok. He has been trying to ban the availability of the platform in the United States since his first term in office, claiming that it is a national security risk.