Canadian e-commerce giant Shopify (TSX:SHOP) (NYSE:SHOP) is partnering with TikTok to develop a new feature that will enable people to buy directly from a social media app.
Shopify merchants who have a TikTok business account will be able to add a shopping tab to their profiles for the first time, the companies said in a blog post.
The pilot version of the app is currently available to users in the U.S. and United Kingdom and will launch in additional countries in coming months.
Social media giants such as Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Alphabet’s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) YouTube and Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) have recently been investing in shopping features to drive sales growth.
Shopify and TikTok are vying for a piece of the “social commerce” industry, which relies on users’ ability to discover and buy products through social media apps and is expected to grow to $50 billion U.S. from $36 billion U.S. in annual sales by 2023.