As Tiktok is becoming more popular, more and more users using this app, which leads to the dramatic increase in the sales of phone accessories, such as tripods to prop up smartphones while recording videos, mobile holders, connectors and on-the-go cables.
About Tiktok
Tiktok was first launched as Douyin in China in September 2016. Then, the company pushed out the global version, which is TikTok in the following year. TikTok and Douyin are the same but run on different servers to comply with Chinese censorship restrictions.
This app allows users to create 15-second videos. In the video, you can use a plethora of music and dialogue options, with which they could lip-sync and make funny or entertaining videos. Now, Tiktok is not available in China and its servers are based in countries where the app is available.
Tiktok has growth quickly, the application became the most downloaded app in the U.S. in October 2018. As of 2018, it is available in over 150 markets, and in 75 languages. In February 2019, TikTok, together with Douyin, hit one billion downloads globally, excluding Android installs in China.
The Impressive Growth of Tiktok
In China, Douyin (TikTok for the Chinese market) commands market penetration of 30% as of June 2018. Also in China, the app reported 400 million monthly active users, 50% of which were active daily. There are just statistics of Tiktok in China.
For the global market, TikTok was downloaded 68 million times worldwide in October 2018, which makes it the third most-downloaded app globally. Specifically, TikTok was downloaded 9 million times over October 2018, according to Google Play Store download statistics. In late September 2018, TikTok accounted for 30% of App Store downloads of top-ranking apps (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat), rising to 42% a month later.
However, in terms of engagement levels, Tiktok is at a significantly lower level, which is 29%, while rival apps are 95% upwards.
Regarding the revenue, TikTok brought in $3.5 million in revenue over 2017, 42% of which came from the US, 39% from China (excluding Chinese Android users). And the parent company of Tiktok, ByteDance, brought in $2.5 billion in revenue in 2017.
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What is Selling
Many retailers have the reason to thank this Chinese app because it has boosted sales of mobile phone tripods and accessories up to 10 times in a year. As this app becomes famous, more and more people want to make videos to show their “talent”.
In order to make an amazing video, users need to use some tools such as tripods to prop up smartphones while recording videos and other products like mobile holders, connectors and on-the-go cables. The two giant retailers, Flipkart and Amazon told ET that they’ve seen a huge spike in product categories, with sales soaring up to 300% to 10 times within a year.
Tiktok has said in a statement of to ET that it has over 200 million Indian users across tier I, II and III cities, while India has some 500-550 million smartphone users currently.
An Amazon India spokesperson told ET the platform has seen a 300% increase in unit sales of bestselling monopods from 2018 to 2019. “Another interesting product line with a 200% increase in unit sales is smartphone gimbals.” Gimbals are a tool for stabilizing a camera or mobile phone camera while making a video on the go and can cost between Rs 3,000 to Rs 30,000 a piece.
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The Monetary Benefits from Tiktok
One special thing about Tiktok is that most of the sales of phone accessories come from small towns and cities said, industry insiders. Because they hope that by using Tiktok, they can become social media influencers. Once they are famous, they can earn money from advertisers to plug in their products in a bid to be seen by the large follower base.
The brand specialist Harish Bijoor said, “Video sharing is value addition, and value addition has monetary benefit. The more the number of followers you have on your video-sharing app, the better, and the more visual you share, the quicker you become an influencer, and then monetary benefits follow.”
“TikTok has given people an avenue and a voice to showcase their talent and connect with like-minded people. This spirit has led to a lot of creators to come forward, create content and showcase their passion, talent, and skills amongst a varied audience, thereby carving an independent identity,” the company said.
