By now TikTok was supposed to be just a memory, no longer active in the U.S. Congress passed a law saying so. That ban, enacted by the last Congress and signed into law by President Biden, called for the social media site to discontinue functioning in the U.S., and in fact it did for a day or two before it came back up on line. Under the Trump administration, the deadline for its sale to an acceptable owner -- read, not the Chinese government -- has now been postponed three times and the current president has said an agreement is close for it to go to new owners, as yet unspecified. Every tech giant in Silicon Valley, as well as Amazon, has been mentioned but it’s still unclear who and when this will all happen...much less if it actually will. The latest extension runs through Sept. 17 of this year.
In the meantime, TikTok continues to operate in the U.S., and its e-commerce component remains a formidable player in the marketplace. Capital One Shopping recently estimated that $9 billion of TikTok Shop’s global $33 billion in revenue last year came from U.S. consumers. The American operation only launched in 2023 but has already attracted 47 million shoppers spending an average of $32 million daily, Capital One said.
It's possible that TikTok Shop is picking up market share from Shein and Temu, two Chinese-founded e-commerce sites that have seen substantial fall-offs in their sales since the de minimis cut-off was eliminated earlier this year.
Whatever happens with TikTok as well as with Shein and Temu, for the present these sites continue to drain business away from traditional retailers in the U.S., especially at the lower end of the market in inexpensive apparel, fashion accessories and home trinkets. Until these issues are resolved, this will no doubt continue. American sellers beware.