Tencent-backed Kuaishou confirmed that its short video and live streaming app has integrated JD.com and Pinduoduo to boost e-commerce capabilities.
A Kuaishou spokesperson told KrASIA that the feature allows users to easily sell goods to other users. The company previously already had a similar integration with Tmall and Taobao. It lets users demonstrate products listed on these sites, via a channel called Kuaishou Small Store. Now, this feature extends to products listed on JD.com and Pinduoduo too.
When a user wants to buy a product they see on Kuaishou, they will be directed to the e-commerce site where the product is listed and the transaction will be completed there, a system similar to how affiliate links work.
The spokesperson said that this will benefit both buyers and sellers.
At the end of May, Wang Qiang, a vice president at Kuaishou, claimed that the app had more than 200 million daily active users. Kuaishou targets RMB 30 billion (USD 4.36 billion) in revenue and expects to turn profitable this year.
Its current revenue mainly comes from advertising and a cut of tips and virtual gifts given by audiences to broadcasters, while e-commerce revenue has not reached a large scale. According to a Chinese report by Jiemian.com citing an unidentified source, 10% of Kuaishou’s live broadcasters have started to sell goods via the short video app.
Douyin, a competing app which is known as TikTok outside of China, has 250 million daily users in the country. It has also tapped e-commerce by allowing vendors such as Xiaomi and e-tailer JD.com to integrate mini programs into its app.
