While it still might feel like summer in many parts of the country, retailers have already started to gear up for the holiday season, especially Black Friday. This Black Friday, a new retailer will also be in the mix: TikTok.
TikTok officially launched its Shop marketplace tab in the US earlier this week. The company is planning to offer huge discounts within this tab starting in late October, Bloomberg reports, and will subsidize those discounts for merchants on its platform, in some cases covering as much as 50% of the bill.
TikTok’s Black Friday program officially kicks off on Oct. 27 and runs until Nov. 30. Its official Black Friday sale will take place starting at 8 p.m. ET on Nov. 23, and its Cyber Monday sale will run from Nov. 28-30.
The move comes after a strong kickoff for the Shop tab in the US. TikTok offered customers free shipping as well as 20% off coupons before the Shop tab’s launch in order to encourage purchases.
TikTok reportedly poached employees from popular retailers Temu and Shein to work as order and warehouse managers for the effort.
The company also recently made headlines for its decision to force employees to return to the office. Starting in October, many TikTok employees will be required to spend between three and five days in the office each week and their attendance will be monitored by internal software.
