Douyin, the Chinese version of the popular short video app TikTok and owned by ByteDance, has reported a shortfall in its gross merchandise value (GMV) target for the first half of 2024. According to a Thursday report by Chinese media outlet 36Kr, Douyin achieved a GMV of 1.4 trillion yuan (about US$193 billion) in the first six months of the year, missing its initial target of 1.5 trillion yuan.
The lower-than-expected GMV highlights the challenges Douyin faces amid sluggish consumer spending and intensified competition in the domestic e-commerce sector. The platform, which launched a standalone shopping app in March, has experienced a significant slowdown in its e-commerce growth rate. After starting the year with a growth rate exceeding 60 percent in January and February, Douyin’s growth decelerated to 30 percent by the end of the second quarter, according to LatePost.
This trend aligns with a forecast by Goldman Sachs, which in June projected a 24 percent GMV growth rate for Douyin in 2024. This represents a sharp decline from the 60 percent and 80 percent growth rates reported in the previous two years. The slowdown reflects broader difficulties within the e-commerce sector as companies adapt to shifting consumer behaviors and a more competitive landscape.
A representative from Douyin’s e-commerce division has disputed the accuracy of the 36Kr report but declined to comment on the LatePost report regarding the slowing growth. Douyin, which has over 600 million daily active users in China, and its Beijing-based parent company ByteDance are privately held and do not disclose detailed financial information.
The performance of Douyin’s e-commerce platform underscores the pressures facing digital retail giants in a challenging economic environment. As Douyin overcomes these hurdles, the company’s ability to achieve its full-year GMV targets and sustain its growth trajectory will be closely monitored by industry analysts and stakeholders. It will also determine how its parent TikTok will perform in the coming months because it also follows the same strategy but on a global level compared to Douyin which implements this strategy in China. Since financial information is not disclosed, it is very hard to find out Douyin’s actual numbers as of now.
