TikTok appears to be making a push for a logistics rollout

As the father of two teenage daughters, I can tell you first-hand that when I think of the (very) ubiquitous social media app, TikTok, logistics is far from top of mind. But that may now be changing, it seems.

The reason? Well,a recent report published by Axios came across my desk, with the following headline: “TikTok chases Amazon with plans for U.S. fulfillment centers.”To be honest, that was not a headline I was expecting to see, especially given the way that TikTok is utilized here at home.

But a close read of the Axios report raises some interesting points, noting that its plans to build U.S.-based fulfillment centers “could directly challenge Amazon,” coupled with the report highlighting several logistics-related job openings posted by TikTok on LinkedIn, for positions such as a logistics solutions manager for a global fulfillment center and a fulfillment logistics manager, among others.

The job description for the former explained various aspects of the position, including: inventory movement among different warehouses, B2B transport, B2C transport, parcel consolidation, direct line-haul, volume forecast and allocation, merchant inventory control; and inventory management, production plan, tailored as easy-to-use and scalable solutions for target merchants. TikTok added in its job descriptions featured in the Axios report that the global fulfillment center is “responsible for growing our logistics solution,” and includes product fulfillment by TikTok to its sellers by “providing warehousing, delivery, and customer service returns.”

Another key takeaway from the report is that it stated TikTok does not appear to be building out its own transportation unit like what Amazon has, rather that the company would work with vendors to handle shipping, parcel consolidation, and transportation.

Rick Watson, founder and CEO of New York-based RMW Consulting, said that the market presence and influence, pardon the pun, of TikTok could go a long way in determining how successful the company’s logistics ambitions end up being.

“胜利者去了战利品,我认为差异erence between the top networks and everyone else trying to do this is very significant,” Watson explained. “If you look at any kind of Internet service provider, whoever claims 50%-to-80% [of market share] could basically do whatever they want. And then a lot of the followers try to copy them, like Facebook, and it doesn't work out so well, even if they do the exact same thing. So I think to assume that it's not going to work for Tik Tok, because it didn't work for Facebook, for instance, I think, is probably not necessarily the best idea, just because of how much attention TikTok gets.”

Watson said that based on his research TikTok has been investigating a logistics build out for the past several months and maybe even all of 2022, with the company working on e-commerce in the United Kingdom and Indonesia and from China on an international cross-border basis.

“这是本质上只是继续交货tend that vision into America so that creator space in the U.S. could sell to the US but it could also sell kind of anywhere really at the same time,” he said.” So. look does it have legs? It's hard to tell, but the reality is the best creators are going to TikTok right now, and creators are their own celebrities, and so they can do whatever it is they want. They can create a new line of clothing. They could drive trends. The way to think about these popular influencers is that anyone could become a Kim Kardashian, and she's been extremely successful building celebrity into several multi-billion businesses and that family. So, I would think about it kind of in that vein more than anything else is, if, if you are a teenager or in your twenties or your thirties, and you want to start selling merchandise to your fans, you need to learn to do a lot of the things that multinational corporations spend a lot of time trying to figure out like: Where do I get inventory manufactured? How much inventory do I need to buy if I'm going to run a big promotion to my millions of fans? Where do I need to put it? How am I going to get it to consumers? Tik Tok is trying to solve all these problems for these creators.”

On aLinkedIn post related to this development, Watson explained that social networks can do much damage and also be havens for fraud, counterfeits, and international rule-breaking, in terms of who can sell what and where legally. And he added that if consumers don’t have a great experience, they lose trust and creators cannot monetize effectively.

“The workflow will be like this,” he wrote. “An internationally famous creator has established a major following on the network and is now partnered with manufacturers and wants to give exclusive drops to their fans worldwide. These creators are not necessarily international retailers but need to act like them.”

For this effort to be considered successful, Watson said that TikTok will need to set standards and build connectivity to all players, including Amazon Logistics, Shopify Logistics, Maersk, Flexport, and others.

What happens from here remains to be seen, but Watson said that it seems inevitable that if TikTok wants to create its top creators, it also needs to be the top platform for helping them monetize merchandise and not just serve as a way to drive traffic.

这是一个有趣的requi发展re a watchful eye. While I have learned about TikTok somewhat vicariously as a parent, it stands to reason I will be paying much more time, given that it looks like it is starting to embark on what may be a very interesting logistics endeavor.