TikTok, the global hit short video platform owned by ByteDance, is set to jump into Southeast Asia’s local services sector, initially enabling users in Indonesia and Thailand to obtain vouchers for restaurants, flights and hotels via links on their feeds.
Restaurants owners and merchants in those two countries are being encouraged to join the social media platform’s “TikTok Local Services”, according to a report on Friday by Chinese media outlet 36Kr. TikTok also plans to make a foray into leisure categories, allowing users to obtain coupons for flights and hotels provided by third-party service providers, according to an Indonesia-based source who declined to be identified because the initiative has not been made public yet.
On TikTok’s official recruitment website, there are nearly 30 related openings for its local services business in Singapore, Jakarta and Bangkok.
With dual headquarters in Singapore and Los Angeles, TikTok said in a statement to the South China Morning Post on Friday that local services operations in Thailand and Indonesia are still in the testing stage. It added that only a few users in those markets can see the local services offerings from merchants in their feeds, based on the app’s recommendation algorithm.
In Southeast Asia, TikTok also has plans to team up with established carriers for on-demand local services like food delivery.
TikTok’s latest initiatives in Southeast Asia show how parent ByteDance is strategically expanding the platform’s revenue stream, following Chinese sister app Douyin’s foray into on-demand local services and online shopping on the mainland.
Douyin has been primed to challenge Chinese on-demand local services market leader Meituan. TikTok’s mainland sibling enables users to obtain coupons and order delivery through the app, supported by its vast short video and live-streaming content.
The vacant positions at TikTok’s local services business in the region include business development, product managers, data analysts, merchant and listings governance specialists, and strategy managers.
One job description reads: “Local Services creates an inclusive and fair business environment, helping merchants, service providers, creators, and other roles to continuously generate revenue and improve efficiency.”
In January, ByteDance completed a US$1.5 billion deal that merged TikTok Shop with GoTo Group’s Tokopedia.
Indonesia is among the earliest markets for ByteDance’s e-commerce ambitions – and thus far, the biggest – but competition is intense with rivals such as Sea’s Shopee and Alibaba Group Holding’s Lazada. Alibaba owns the Post.
With more than 1 billion monthly active users worldwide, TikTok Shop is approaching a projected annual revenue of around US$4 billion, boosted by the contribution of its Southeast Asian markets, according to analytics firm YipitData.
