Douyin E-Commerce in 2024: Guide for Business & Brands

Douyin E-Commerce recorded a huge $150 billion in sales. I’ll use my experience in Chinese Marketing to guide you through the key points you need to know.

Summary

• Douyin is a short video app in China with e-commerce features, different from TikTok. It had $150 billion in sales and expects to grow its user base to 835 million by 2025.
• To sell on Douyin, businesses need to create an account, upload videos, and provide legal documents. They can then use live streams and other features to show products and make shopping easy for users.
• Effective marketing on Douyin includes making attention-grabbing videos, using ads wisely, and working with popular users known as Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) to reach more people.
• Using Douyin for online selling helps businesses reach a big audience of young buyers who like sharing their purchases. This makes items popular quickly.
• The platform supports targeting specific customers well and fighting fake sellers with the help of programs that protect brands.

Understanding Douyin’s E-Commerce Platform

Douyin offers a unique online shopping experience, different from others. It stands out with features not found on TikTok, its global cousin.

What is Douyin?

Douyin is a short video app made by ByteDance. It started in 2016 and is only for people in China. This platform lets users make, share, and watch videos. It has become very popular for online shopping too.

In 2021, Douyin saw sales of $150 billion through its e-commerce features.

This app has a huge number of users – 692.5 million as of now. Experts think this will grow to 835 million by 2025. Unlike TikTok, its global version, Douyin offers more than just fun videos; it’s also a powerful tool for digital commerce and social media marketing.

Douyin: ByteDance’s powerhouse app blending social media with e-commerce.

Key differences between Douyin and TikTok

Transitioning from our exploration of Douyin, let’s focus on the key differences between Douyin and TikTok. These differences are crucial for marketing managers planning to engage with either platform. Here are the distinct features of each, laid out in a simple table format:

	Douyin	TikTok
Launch Date	2016	2017
Audience	Chinese, focuses on millennials and Gen-Z	Global, diverse age groups
Content Type	Short videos, live streams, with integrated e-commerce	Short videos, with limited e-commerce outside China
Advertising Tools	Comprehensive for local businesses	More generic, aimed at a global audience
Engagement Rate	High, due to integration with e-commerce	Highest among social media platforms

This table shows, Douyin and TikTok cater to different markets, with Douyin offering more for businesses looking to sell directly through their platform. TikTok, while having a high engagement rate, doesn’t integrate e-commerce as seamlessly as Douyin. Each platform requires a unique approach for marketing managers aiming to maximize their brand’s visibility and sales.

How Douyin E-Commerce Functions

Douyin e-commerce turns browsing into buying with a tap. Shops set up online stores, share products in videos, and users can buy without leaving the app.

Overview of the Douyin Store

The Douyin Store, launched in March 2021, is an all-in-one e-commerce shop inside the app. It lets users watch livestreams, click on products, and buy them without leaving the app.

This means a smooth journey from seeing to buying. The store is part of Douyin’s push into social commerce—a big market where ads, online retail, and social platforms mix.

Features like direct buying cut steps for shoppers. They see something they like during a livestream or on their feed and can get it right away with a few taps. For marketing managers, this integrates branding with selling—creating viral content that leads directly to sales figures.

Turning views into buys happens fast in the Douyin Store.

Next up: Setting up your own store on Douyin’s platform involves more than just posting products…

Setting up a Douyin E-commerce Store

Setting up a Douyin E-commerce Store involves clear steps. You need to prepare some important documents and information.

1. Create a Douyin account if you don’t have one already. This will be your first step toward selling products.
2. Upload ten short videos related to your products or services. This helps attract your target audience early on.
3. Provide a business license to prove your business is legal and registered.
4. Submit ID information for personal verification, ensuring the platform’s security.
5. Include bank card details for transactions and financial operations.
6. Pay a deposit fee, which shows you’re serious about your store. The fee ranges from 100,000 RMB to 400,000 RMB depending on several factors.
7. Wait for verification of your submitted documents and store setup, which can take between one to five working days.

These steps are crucial in launching your online shop on Douyin’s e-commerce platform. By following them closely, you ensure that both the technical and legal aspects of setting up your online store meet all necessary requirements for a successful launch.

Features of Douyin’s E-commerce Tools

Douyin’s e-commerce tools offer group livestreams and voice comments. These features let brands connect with customers in real time. During a livestream, sellers can show products and answer questions.

This makes shopping interactive and fun.

The platform also has in-video search, pinned posts, and location tagging. Users can easily find what they are looking for by typing into the search bar. Shops pin their best deals at the top of their page so buyers see them first.

Location tags help users discover local offers or shops nearby.

Marketing Strategies for Success on Douyin

To win on Douyin, create catchy videos and use Ads. Work with popular users for more views.

Content creation tips

Creating content on Douyin requires a blend of knowledge and creativity. Since Douyin users spend over 2 hours daily on the app, engaging them is crucial. Here are ways to do it:

1. Focus on short videos that get right to the point. Users have an attention span of about 8 seconds.
2. Use creative visuals and music to grab attention fast.
3. Include knowledge-based content since users prefer it.
4. Craft stories around your product instead of just selling it.
5. Encourage user interaction with questions or polls.
6. Work with Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) to boost credibility.
7. Use Douyin’s analytics tools to understand what works best.
8. Regularly update content to keep users coming back for more.
9. Leverage hashtags wisely for wider reach.
10. Offer exclusive deals or sneak peeks in your videos.

These methods will help you connect with the vast audience on Douyin effectively.

Leveraging Douyin’s advertising tools

Douyin’s advertising tools offer low costs and diverse formats. They let you reach a large audience effectively.

1. Use short video ads to tell your brand’s story quickly.
2. Place in-feed ads that appear while users scroll through their feed.
3. Create brand takeovers for full-screen moments of attention.
4. Set up search ads that show up when users look for related keywords.
5. Run hashtag challenges to engage users and encourage content creation around your brand.
6. Take advantage of Douyin mini programs for direct sales.
7. Explore the lower ad saturation on Douyin, making your message stand out more than on other platforms like Facebook in 2014.

Each method offers a unique way to connect with potential buyers and drive e-commerce success on Douyin.

Collaborating with Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs)

Working with Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) makes your brand more visible. These KOLs have big groups of followers on social channels. Companies like WPIC and Sekkei Digital help brands work well with KOLs on Douyin.

They give insights and support to grow your brand. This way, you reach many people quickly.

Brands win when they connect the right message with the right people at the right time.

Next, let’s look at why Douyin is great for e-commerce.

Advantages of Using Douyin for E-Commerce

Using Douyin for online shopping brings big wins, like reaching lots of interested buyers and making ads that people want to share. It’s great at finding the right customers and keeping them interested.

This makes selling stuff online not just easier, but also more fun. Want to know how? Keep reading.

Access to a vast, engaged audience

Douyin reaches over 750 million people every day. These users are mostly young, from Gen-Z and Millennials. They love to watch videos and shop online. This makes Douyin a great place for e-commerce platforms.

Marketers can show their products to many interested buyers here.

By using Douyin, businesses tap into a market that likes trying new things. People on Douyin share what they buy with friends. This helps products become popular fast. Brands like Tmall and JD.com see the value in this and use it too.

With so many active shoppers, selling on Douyin means you can reach lots of customers quickly.

High potential for viral marketing

With Douyin’s huge and active crowd, your store can quickly become famous. Users are on the platform for over two hours each day, sharing and watching videos. This makes it easy for products to go viral.

A video showing your product can spread fast if people like it. Also, Douyin’s clever algorithm helps by showing content from popular accounts more. If you team up with Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs), they can boost your brand even more.

These leaders have lots of followers who trust what they say about products.

Using livestreaming is another powerful tool on Douyin for making sales soar. People love watching these streams to see products in action before buying them. Plus, with features designed to make shopping simple, like quick checkout and direct messaging, buyers can purchase items without leaving the video they’re watching.

This smooth experience keeps customers coming back for more, helping businesses grow their gross merchandise value (GMV).

Effective targeting and customer engagement

Moving from the viral aspect, Douyin’s platform excels in engaging a specific audience. Its advanced search filters allow users to find exactly what they want. This means marketers can target ads very accurately.

For example, if you sell sports gear, your ads can reach people who love sports.

Douyin also shares data on where sellers are and basic info about them. Yet, tracking fake sellers is hard because of vague profiles. To fight this, programs like GLOBALEYEZ help protect brands on Douyin against frauds using stolen ideas or designs.

So, when you place an ad or work with influencers known as KOLs, your brand stays safe while reaching the right people.

Conclusion: Douyin is Great and We can Help!

Douyin e-commerce changes how people shop. It blends videos, shopping, and fun. Stores on Douyin open quickly, showing products in a new way. Users enjoy buying goods as they watch their favorite clips.

We can help your brand to sell on Douyin. Click the image below to contact us 🙂

This quick shopping grows fast in China, beating other big names in e-commerce. Douyin proves that watching videos and shopping can go hand in hand, making it easy for users to find and buy new things without stopping the fun.