TikTok is planning its own US fulfillment centers, according to job listings

Nick Barclay / The Verge

TikTok is reportedly building its own shopping fulfillment centers in the US, according to more than a dozen job postings first spotted by Axios.

The LinkedIn job listings include global fulfillment center positions in Seattle and Los Angeles. TikTok has already made its e-commerce ambitions in the US clear, and the job descriptions double down on the company’s focus on shopping features.

“The e-commerce industry has seen tremendous growth in recent years and has become a hotly contested space amongst leading Internet companies, and its future growth cannot be underestimated,” one listing reads. “With millions of loyal users globally, we believe TikTok is an ideal platform to deliver a brand new and better e-commerce experience to our users.”

According to listings, TikTok plans to provide warehousing, delivery, and returns for merchants to “ensure fast and sustainable growth of TikTok Shop.” TikTok has introduced several e-commerce features on the platform, like a program announced last summer that allows merchants to have Shopify-connected storefronts in TikTok.

The platform has also looked to live shopping, wildly popular in Asia but less so elsewhere. After earlier reports that TikTok was scaling back the expansion in Europe and US, live shopping plans are apparently back on in the US, with the platform potentially partnering with TalkShopLive ahead of the holiday shopping rush.

Despite shopping moving slower in the US than in other regions, opening an Amazon-like warehouse full of TikTok products and handling customer service signals that the company still views e-commerce as a way to make money.

TikTok didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment sent by The Verge. It told Axios that it intends to provide “a selection of merchants which offer a range of product options as well as delivery options” in regions where it has e-commerce programs and that those areas are its focus.