TikTok stores enter Southeast Asia: social e-commerce and beauty industries usher in changes

Michael Chan believes that TikTok's e-commerce function will mark the arrival of a "true social e-commerce platform" in Southeast Asia.

Chan is the head of Synagie, an e-commerce incubator that recently launched a brand incubation project with TikTok to help local brands increase sales on TikTok stores.

Cosmetics brands such as Shiseido, Mandan, and Mentholatum have joined the program one after another.

“To me, unless you can achieve a closed-loop conversion within the platform, it’s not social commerce — it’s just affiliate marketing ,” Chan said. “ TikTok has introduced a conversion system, which means you can make transactions directly on the platform. This really makes the concept of social commerce come true because you don’t have to jump to another page to pay.”

Previously, all major beauty brands were eager to enter the field of social e-commerce, but at that time there was a lack of a more integrated system.

“The biggest problem we faced at the time was the lack of a back-end integration system,” said Olive Tai, co-founder of Synagie. “There were often problems on the supply chain or customer side, making it difficult to scale.”

"Unlike other platforms, TikTok has a "very strong" backend support system, which will accelerate the development of social e-commerce in Southeast Asia," Tai added.

As TikTok's global user base grows rapidly, Tai firmly believes that beauty brands can achieve great success on this platform.

Tai said, “I think everyone is aware that TikTok is one of the fastest growing social platforms. We can promote brands to more than 1 billion users around the world. This helps brands build a solid user base and provides huge opportunities for subsequent development of brands.”

Tai specifically highlighted Wahl, a brand of professional personal beauty brushes, as a brand that will see a leap in growth through the TikTok platform.

“Wahl is a great example of how they took a household name in Singapore and Malaysia and made it global through TikTok. This platform can significantly increase the number of users that can reach and engage with the brand.”

As more and more domestic sellers enter the Southeast Asian market, targeting the beauty sector may also be a good choice.

TikTok

Southeast Asia

E-commerce