Jonah Michael Ople, head of the Philippines fashion category at TikTok Shop, revealed that the total number of sellers on the platform has reached 2 million, showing strong growth momentum.
Ople mentioned that live streaming sales in Southeast Asia increased by 37% between the second and third quarters of this year, while the number of merchants selling live on TikTok Shop also increased by 18%.
He expects this number to rise further with the arrival of the Christmas shopping season. During the peak shopping season, nearly half of the sales of TikTok Shop's best-selling items in the Philippines came from live streaming, and for top sellers, this proportion was as high as 80%.
When asked how it compares to competitors such as Lazada and Shopee, Ople said that TikTok Shop does not directly compare itself to other e-commerce platforms, but focuses on its unique user experience.
He believes that the way consumers enter TikTok Shop - usually by watching video content and then clicking on the "shop" tab to shop - is fundamentally different from traditional e-commerce platforms. This differentiated experience allows TikTok Shop to attract users even if they are not initially visiting for shopping.
