Walmart joining Microsoft to buy TikTok – Weird? Not at all!
- With Facebook making big in-roads to e-commerce, Walmart is slowly getting left behind while Silicon Valley is eating away its lunch. TikTok not only is the hottest and trendiest social network across the globe but is also widely popular in younger demographics which probably rarely shops at Walmart.
It is 2020 but it feels like it is back to mid 2000s when social networking became mainstream and web based social networking sites such as MySpace, Friendster, Orkut, etc. were all the rage. Then came Facebook and became the ultimate winner. There were other big winners too such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Reddit and Pinterest, they created their own space.
With the explosive growth of smart phones across the world new social networking platforms also created their own space: Snapchat, WhatsApp (more messaging but with groups feature it does works more like a social network), Instagram and few more messaging based apps (Telegram, Signal, Viber, etc.).
When everyone thought that market is saturated with too much of social networks and it would be a bad idea to launch another social network, TikTok changed the whole perception. It’s an amazing growth story and is one for the academics to study and research. It has made social media sexy again. Dozens of social networks are trending right now such as Triller and few short video apps in India have taken off the charts after TikTok got banned by Indian government.
Coming to the today’s news of Walmart joining forces with Microsoft to bid for TikTok caught a lot of people by surprise and resulting in a big gain in Walmart stock price (~5%).
Why this deal makes so much sense for Walmart is due to rising effect of social media in e-commerce and significant gains made by Facebook in e-commerce by introducing Checkout, Live Shopping and Facebook Shops. Instagram is now a powerhouse of influencers who have lately become a very important part of everyone’s marketing budget. With the introduction of checkout they can now peddle products to their fan base and earn commissions.
With Facebook making big in-roads to e-commerce, Walmart is slowly getting left behind while Silicon Valley is eating away its lunch. TikTok not only is the hottest and trendiest social network across the globe but is also widely popular in younger demographics which probably rarely shops at Walmart.
Walmart with Microsoft together can be a potent force which can quickly monetize and take full advantage of TikTok and compete with not only Facebook but also Amazon.
Amazon your move!
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