Douyin to bar outside links to Taobao, JD ahead of Singles Day festival

In addition, merchants on Douyin were also required to use the platform’s built-in digital marketing matching service to find key opinion leaders (KOL) and were banned from promoting products from third-party ecommerce platforms.

A representative from Douyin told the Post that the move was done “in order to further protect the rights and interests of consumers.” The new KOL rule will take effect on September 6, while the ban on third-party links is scheduled to come into force after October 9.

The Chinese tech giant has started “loosening ties” with outside shopping websites to prepare for the Singles Day shopping festival on November 11, Ma Shicong, a senior analyst for research firm Analysys, told the Post.

However, it might be a challenge for Douyin to go head to head with its long-established competitors, with Alibaba’s Taobao Live and JD’s partnership with Douyin rival Kuaishou already establishing ecosystems of their own.

“Douyin will need to guarantee efficiency for merchants and make sure users have a great shopping experience so that they will continue to watch the livestreaming promotions,” Ma added.

It was previously reported that ByteDance set up a new business unit for ecommerce earlier this year, betting on the burgeoning social commerce sector. The new unit was also said to have set a gross merchandise volume target of about US$28.3 billion this year.