Square has teamed up with TikTok to make it easier for the video sharing site's small-business users to set up online stores.
Using a product called Square x TikTok, merchants can send customers directly to their online stores from videos, advertisements or shopping tabs. The collaboration includes a feature that allows commercial users of TikTok For Business to set up a customizable Square online store for free.
The TikTok partnership is part of Square’s broader effort to offer more social media and video tools to the small-business customers of its payments network. Square recently launched Snippits API, an application programming interface that helps merchants create digital content. Early Snippits adopters include Fomo, a social marketing platform that uses the API and other Square tools to improve consumer communications tied ro purchases and reviews.
TikTok recently passed 1 billion users, a 45% jump from July 2020. The site's popularity with younger consumers and content creators — nearly 70% of TikTok's users are under 40 — makes TikTok attractive to retailers.
Walmart in late 2020 debuted a shoppable livestream with TikTok, allowing consumers to shop for Walmart clothing from TikTok creators and also pay for items on Walmart's TikTok page. The initial stream's success led Walmart to expand the TikTok live streams.
Shopify has also partnered with TikTok to add an advertising channel for Shopify's merchant network, which allows consumers to make purchases by clicking on ads.
And Carolina Trust Federal Credit Union in Myrtle Beach, S.C., this year began tests with TikTok in an attempt to attract younger users.
Walmart and Oracle have jointly attempted to acquire TikTok's U.S. operations, though regulatory scrutiny from the Biden administration has stalled the effort. ByteDance, a Chinese company, owns TikTok, and the Trump administration had attempted to force ByteDance to sell TikTok, citing national security concerns.
