TikTok plots entering the US e-commerce market: “TikTok is pursuing a new revenue stream and reportedly entering the U.S. e-commerce market with a platform for made-in-China goods”. There is no reason not to do that since TikTok has become a very huge market. When you have access to the goods (it has a Chinese origin) and you have American buyers in your ecosystem, a smart way to drive growth is to offer that Shop button since most of the items are already discovered within your videos. So like Temu, an AI-powered ecommerce company, another Chinese company goes after Amazon.
Why is that possible? The US has a great logistical system with an affordable postal service. With that, the world becomes a market (yes, “uwa bu ahia” the Igbo Nation says), and players can buy and sell at scale. But positioning the US to become this important e-commerce market has one secret: the US postal service which makes the online market to keep flourishing has not made a SINGLE PROFIT in the last 20 years.
Yes, the US post office declares losses and losses. But do not be deceived, they can make profits if they want, and they don’t really care. They want to build platforms upon which markets run, and logistics with postal services is one of the most important platforms in the ecommerce universe. At the end, they tax that market, and recover the losses via postal services.
Tekedia Mini-MBA edition 16 (Feb 10 – May 3, 2025) opens registrations; register today for early bird discounts.
Tekedia AI in Business Masterclass opens registrations here.
Join Tekedia Capital Syndicate and invest in Africa’s finest startups here.
It is called Symphonic Public Policy (SPP) – a policy system that is not domain-specific, but is anchored on a unified and harmonious approach in policy making to accelerate productivity gains and cushion competitiveness in economies. With SPP, you do not unveil policies on ecommerce, only to be tripped by lack of supply chain systems; you launch the ecommerce plan with a mindset that these areas are like extended musical compositions which must be carefully organized to make the orchestra an unforgettable experience. (I coined that SPP in case you want to borrow it.)
Nigeria needs to have its moment and if we get it right, great things will happen in our communities.
TikTok is pursuing a new revenue stream and reportedly entering the U.S. e-commerce market with a platform for made-in-China goods. The TikTok Shop, which the company hopes will have similar success as China’s Shein and Temu, is expected to launch in the U.S. in early August, reports The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the plan. Its operations will resemble Amazon’s third-party program, which stores, sells, markets and ships products and handles customer service for outside sellers. Per the Journal, plans are to eventually expand to goods from countries other than China.
Combined, Shein and Temu have about one fifth of TikTok’s billion monthly active users. This week, TikTok debuted Instagram-like text posts in the U.S. and expanded its music streaming service from Indonesia and Brazil to Australia, Mexico and Singapore.
Postal Service Net Income/Loss By Year
- 2021 – $9.7 billion loss (projected)
- 2020 – $9.2 billion loss
- 2019 – $8.8 billion loss
- 2018 – $3.9 billion loss
- 2017 – $2.7 billion loss
- 2016 – $5.6 billion loss
- 2015 – $5.1 billion loss
- 2014 – $5.5 billion loss
- 2013 – $5 billion loss
- 2012 – $15.9 billion loss
- 2011 – $5.1 billion loss
- 2010 – $8.5 billion loss
- 2009 – $3.8 billion loss
- 2008 – $2.8 billion loss
- 2007 – $5.1 billion loss
- 2006 – $900 million surplus
- 2005 – $1.4 billion surplus
- 2004 – $3.1 billion surplus
- 2003 – $3.9 billion surplus
- 2002 – $676 million loss
- 2001 – $1.7 billion loss
You wrote about this regarding the struggles of ecommerce businesses in Nigeria, using Jumia as a case study.
I referenced it in one of my books.
Logistical gap filled by the government will make e-commerce thrive successfully in any country.
— Kingsley Ndimele: Your Reliable Consultant (@KingsNdimele) July 26, 2023
---
Register for Tekedia Mini-MBA (Feb 10 - May 3, 2025), and join Prof Ndubuisi Ekekwe and our global faculty; click here.
Is there anything we ever got right before? Things as simple as constructing access roads, we can’t get right, but we dream of efficient and cheap postal services, won’t someone steal or misappropriate some of the vehicles? Our much talked about railway system we borrowed so much to construct, which economic arm is currently servicing and what has been the productivity output?
It’s not like we have been great at anything worthwhile, but of course, dreaming is free.
The people talking about ‘funding education’ and ‘digital skills’, ask them the precise meaning of what those words they keep banding about are, and you will get another shocker. We are actually emptier than we think, just noise.
Of course we will expect TikTok to include us in its ‘buy from China’ scheme, so that we can have one more thing to add to our noisemaking.