Gadgetren – TikTok is one of the social media that also has a very popular e-commerce service and is loved by many users because it can create video content while marketing products.
Unlike e-commerce in general, which works specifically for buying and selling transactions, social e-commerce like TikTok refers to buying and selling transactions that take place directly on social media platforms.
This way users can not only transact, but can also create content, interact and send messages. TikTok even dominates the e-commerce social marketplace for social media shopping trends.
On the TikTok platform, the shopping feature itself is called the TikTok store where users can use the dashboard or the Seller Center app to manage products sold through the features offered.
Product links, partnerships, and live streaming are the three mainstays of the TikTok Shop feature. Not to mention the added TikTok Affiliate feature, which is very tempting for content creators to earn extra money for TikTok ads for brands to promote their products more widely.
It doesn’t stop there, now TikTok is introducing a new breakthrough called Project S, which has become a hot topic of discussion after it was first reported by Financial Times on June 21, 2023 of the previous month.
So what exactly is the much talked about TikTok Project S by Teten Masduki as Minister of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises or Menkop UKM that can put pressure on local media in Indonesia?
Apa Itu TikTok Project S?
It is suspected that Project S from the TikTok store will use data about products that have the most sales in a country to then be produced by the Chinese market to be sold. In England this initiation was present in the form of Trendy Beat.
Products currently popular on TikTok are sold directly by affiliated stores or those owned by ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company. Of course, several relevant government parties in Indonesia are worried if the Project S made by TikTok enters Indonesia.
It is feared that the large-scale potential will also have a large impact that may affect the circulation of the Indonesian economy based on the movement of local SME players.
The reason is that Project S allows TikTok to remake marketable products for its own production and will flood the global market, so TikTok will automatically profit from this strategy.
To find out which products are the most sold in the Indonesian market, of course, TikTok through the TikTok Shop will rely on algorithmic technology to find out which products are frequently purchased, buyer characteristics and frequently purchased products.
Although it has not yet entered Indonesia, the government is very wary of Project S because it is suspected of being a source of information for foreign SMEs that want to market their products in Indonesia.
This problem also went to Senayan to revise the Regulation of the Minister of Commerce Permendag no. Although at the time of writing, the revision of the regulations is still ongoing.
On the other hand, TikTok also reportedly spoke stating that there was no cross-border business in the Indonesian TikTok Shop and stressed that Project S also had no possibility of entering Indonesia now or in the future. Of course, if there are no clear regulations, threats could arise because not only TikTok but anyone can easily capture the local MSME market.
