Global social media app TikTok has taken the world by storm over the last few years, and one of its areas of growth is looking more and more to be focused on Amazon’s home turf—geographically and business-wise.
The company is advertising 389 job openings in Seattle as of today, and while most of them are focused on software engineering, data science and analytics, some are focused on e-commerce, e-commerce monetization strategy, retail category leadership (fashion & beauty, home & decoration, home & living), and business solutions and merchant development functions. A posting in the company’s Global Fulfillment Centre has one of its responsibilities listed as “Build the new fulfillment service from scratch.”
The posting also stated “E-commerce’s Fulfillment Centre is a global team responsible for developing and growing our logistics solution—Fulfillment by TikTok Shop to our sellers. By providing warehousing, delivery, and customer service returns, our mission is to help sellers improve their operational capability and efficiency, provide buyers a satisfying shopping experience and ensure fast and sustainable growth of TikTok Shop.”
This is a big development for a company whose primary purpose in the United States has been monetizing ads affiliated with short-form videos created by its users. The jobs listed in Seattle could serve to rival Amazon because of the company’s deep pool of talent and expertise in e-commerce, merchandising and fulfillment. Also, these positions are likely going to help the company grow these operations across the United States where if they do, it will make TikTok in some ways a competitor for Amazon and its vast e-commerce and fulfillment business.
CNN was the first to break this news, and the company quoted a TikTok spokesperson who said that the company is “focused on providing a valuable shopping experience in countries where TikTok Shop is currently offered across Southeast Asia and the UK, which includes providing merchants with a range of product features and delivery options.”
