ByteDance, a Chinese corporation that owns TikTok (a short-form video hosting platform), continues to innovate. With durations ranging from 15 seconds to ten minutes, it contains a wide range of short-form user videos in genres such as pranks, stunts, tricks, jokes, dancing, and entertainment. They tried providing a shopping feature in the United Kindomg, but they have since decided to abandon its implementation in the U.S.

TikTok Shopping Grows in Popularity Among Southeast Asian Countries

TikTok shopping was incredibly popular in Asia, but after a catastrophic launch in the U.K., efforts to bring it to the United States have been shelved. Around half of the team working on the U.K. launch quit, and the executive in charge had to be replaced after he decided he "didn't believe" in U.K. employment rules.

The parent firm of TikTok, ByteDance, has found that live-streamed eCommerce is a successful business strategy in both its home market of China and in other nations in the area. Short QVC-style product videos are displayed by brands, along with a linked buying cart. ByteDance apparently sold an astounding 10 billion things using the shopping feature on the Chinese TikTok partner app Douyin, which saw quick growth. Prior to launching in the U.S., the company launched TikTok Shop in the U.K. with the intention of expanding into mainland Europe.

According to The Financial Times, things in the U.K. didn't exactly go as planned. After the social media platform's attempt at QVC-style shopping in the U.K. was plagued by internal issues and failed to find traction with customers, TikTok abandoned plans to expand its live e-commerce project in Europe and the U.S. However, the U.K. project's failure to fulfill its goals and influencers' withdrawal from the program led to the cancellation of the expansion plans, according to three sources.

Employment Rules Mishap 

According to the Financial Times, the top TikTok commerce executive for Europe seemed to believe that one might choose to "believe in" or not employment legislation. As a result of an investigation into comments made to London-based employees that he "didn't believe" in maternity leave, Joshua Ma, a top ByteDance executive who oversaw TikTok Shop in Europe, was dismissed.

Since the debut of TikTok Shop, at least 20 employees of the London e-commerce team-roughly half of the whole original staff-have gone, and several others claim they are about to do the same. Two workers received settlement payments for their working conditions. One of the former London-based team leaders shared, "The culture is really toxic. Relationships there are built on fear, not cooperation. They don't care about burnout because it is such a big company, they can just replace you."

Members of the London-based e-commerce team claimed that they were routinely required to work longer than 12 hours a day, starting early to facilitate calls with China and finishing late since livestreams performed better at night, with "feedback reports" to be produced right away.

Images of workers putting in late-night shifts were hailed as examples of "commitment" in corporate communications, while a handover in which a worker pledged to work on holidays was shared as a model of best practices. Some staffers were punished or removed from client accounts after taking leave.

An organization that fights employer abuse provided more information on the poisonous workplace culture.

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