How TikTok Shop is Transforming Retail!

This past holiday season, millions of people shopped for presents on TikTok Shop, the fully integrated experience that connects creators, sellers, and customers across the world. There's a reason #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt is such a popular hashtag – with just a few taps, you can buy the clothes, beauty products, food, and more you see in your favorite TikToks. But none of this would be possible without the TikTok Shop team, who work tirelessly to make it the premier shopping destination on Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and every day. We spoke to Rikin Khamar, Thimaporn Kotcha, and Natalia Lizon, based in our London, Bangkok, and San Jose offices respectively, about working at the cutting edge of e-commerce and what excites them about the future of the platform.

The changing e-commerce industry and TikTok's reputation for pushing boundaries attracted Khamar, Kotcha, and Lizon to the company, each citing the culture of innovation, opportunities to grow, and the possibilities of a global audience.

"TikTok – and TikTok Shop, by extension – isn't afraid to develop something really new," says Khamar, the UK Business Development Director for Fulfilled by TikTok Shop, TikTok Shop's logistics service. His team helps sellers engage with customers and spend more time creating by taking care of preparing and dispatching orders around the world. "There are only a handful of companies in the world that can boast about having done something like this before, and I'm privileged to have joined TikTok at this time in its life cycle."

Lizon, an E-commerce Governance Lead whose team analyzes, responds to, and partners on the creation of policy around e-commerce content, agrees. "I'd been with my previous employer for over eight years. The prospect of joining TikTok Shop in its early stages felt very exciting to me. I love the idea of solving new problems on a global scale."

Nothing was more exciting – or global – than this shopping season. On Black Friday, Americans set a new record for online shopping, spending almost $9.8 billion. In the UK, there are over 1.5 million businesses on the platform, and TikTok Shop provided discount codes of up to 60% off products to help customers get the best deals from their favorite creators. With all the (virtual) foot traffic, Khamar's team was busy.

"We saw the rapid growth of merchants adopting Fufilled by TikTok's services, which is very exciting because it has led to lots of new features and marketing channels," he says. "The team is growing, and we're working very hard to leverage the relationships between customers and sellers to learn about what we can do better and what users need."

"TikTok Shop is at the forefront of technology and will transform traditional e-commerce," says Kotcha, whose team specializes in supporting the operations of businesses in the Sports and Lifestyle category. "We see sellers who start at zero and make it to their highest sales record ever. It is amazing to see the ecosystem grow at such a fast pace."

With such rapid growth of the consumer and seller base, the TikTok Shop team work hard to meet any need that arises. During the busy holiday season, Lizon's team was available to both account managers and creators through TikTok Shop's Angel OnCall, where e-commerce customers can get help with any issues that might arise during their shopping spree. As the last line of defense to ensure products and sellers on TikTok Shop are trustworthy and safe for all users, Lizon, like Khamar, found the high volume of shoppers to lead to a learning experience, noticing trends and patterns in the markets.

"We're focusing on shifting from more reactive escalations – answering problems as they come in – to proactive management, or developing policies to protect users from bad content or products before they can even reach the consumer," Lizon says. "We're always keeping our eyes open for new opportunities to improve the shopping experience."

Kotcha emphasizes this as an example of TikTok's commitment to constantly learning and iterating in our work. "We cannot only rely on historical data or previous best practices to grow. We need to ensure we always understand users and their experience. They inform everything we do and the changes we enact."

All three teammates agree that someone interested in joining the company and the TikTok Shop team should be analytical, strategic, and creative. "We're looking for people that really can make things happen and are not afraid to take ownership," says Khamar. Kotcha describes the ideal teammate as someone who is interested in driving real change and creating truly unique experiences.

Or, as Lizon puts it, "TikTok is a great place to work for anyone who enjoys 'building the plane while flying it.'"

TikTok Shop is currently hiring globally across Operations, Governance and Experience, Logistics and Fufillment, Products, Strategy and Data Science functions. Join the fun and explore all the ways you can transform the e-commerce industry.