Receive free TikTok Inc updates

We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest TikTok Inc news every morning.

TikTok is expanding its online retail offerings, with its Chinese parent company selling products through the viral video app as the group seeks to challenge rivals such as Shein and Amazon.

In recent weeks, UK users have begun to see a new shopping feature within the TikTok app called “Trendy Beat”, a section offering items that have proven popular on videos, such as tools to extract ear wax or brush off pet hair from clothing.

All the items advertised are shipped from China, sold by a company registered in Singapore that is owned by TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company ByteDance, according to filings and people familiar with the operations.

The model, similar to how Amazon makes and promotes its own range of best selling items, represents a vast shift from TikTok’s existing shopping marketplace. It currently allows other vendors to sell items through the TikTok Shop, which then takes a small commission.

By contrast, ByteDance would take all the proceeds from sales made through the Trendy Beat feature on TikTok, four people familiar with its operation said.

TikTok said