TikTok will shut down its e-commerce service, TikTok Shop, in Indonesia today (October 4, 2023) at 5:00 PM WIB. This policy follows a government ban prohibiting social commerce platforms from conducting transactions, allowing only promotional activities.
TikTok management stated that the closure of TikTok Shop is a commitment to respecting and complying with Indonesian law.
"Therefore, we will no longer facilitate e-commerce transactions within TikTok Shop Indonesia, effective October 4th, at 5:00 PM WIB," said TikTok Management on its official website on Tuesday (October 3, 2023).
According to TikTok Management, they will continue to coordinate with the Indonesian government regarding their future plans and steps.
Previously, the Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs (Menkop-UKM), Teten Masduki, ensured that separating TikTok Shop from the TikTok social media platform would not harm sellers or merchants.
According to Teten, the separation will allow TikTok to focus more on promotional content. Meanwhile, sales can be conducted through WhatsApp, online stores, or other platforms as desired by the sellers.
“They (sellers) have more options. Don't be fooled. Buyers won't have difficulty either; they just need to click the external link, checkout, and it's done,” said Teten, as quoted from his personal Instagram account @tetenmasduki_ on Wednesday (September 27, 2023).
TikTok Users in Indonesia
According to the latest We Are Social report, this short-video application has 1.08 billion users worldwide as of July 2023.
The number of global TikTok users increased by 5.7% year-on-year (YoY). However, compared to the previous quarter, the Bytedance application decreased by 1% quarter-to-quarter (QoQ).
The United States still holds the top spot for the highest number of global TikTok users, with 122.05 million users in July 2023.
Meanwhile, Indonesia remains in second place with 99.79 million users. This number decreased by 11.7% compared to the previous quarter (QoQ).
Below Indonesia are Brazil and Mexico with 83.32 million and 62.77 million TikTok users, respectively.
Then, 55.12 million TikTok users are recorded from Russia. There are also 44.84 million users from Vietnam, followed by 38.89 million from Pakistan, and 38.4 million from the Philippines.
Furthermore, there are 36.46 million TikTok users from Thailand. In tenth place is Turkey with 32.15 million TikTok users.
We Are Social also reported that women dominate global TikTok users across all age groups as of July 2023. The highest number of TikTok users are in the 18-24 age group, with 19.5% women and 17.8% men.