TikTok is looking to aggressively grow its employee footprint in the Seattle area as the social media video app takes on Amazon for e-commerce shoppers, according to a report Thursday in The Information.
TikTok’s Beijing-based parent ByteDance is using the Seattle area “as the base for an aggressive expansion into online shopping,” the company confirmed to The Information. One exec — who was recently recruited from Meta — said, “great talent and tech companies” are a draw in the region.
The Information cited 350 public job listings for e-commerce roles in the Seattle area. The Puget Sound Business Journal also noted the expansion earlier this month, pointing at more than 680 TikTok job listings in total for the area.
ByteDance first expanded in the area in October 2021 when it subleased a 44,000-square-foot office from enterprise tech giant SAP Concur in the Key Center in downtown Bellevue, Wash. PSBJ said TikTok now has several floors subleased. The Information said Thursday that lack of space has the company exploring opening up a new office in the Seattle area.
According to The Information, TikTok is offering existing employees at other TikTok offices a relocation package worth tens of thousands of dollars. Citing people with knowledge of the plans, perks include a housing stipend, monthly flights back to the employee’s hometown and an additional bonus if the employee stays until next fall.
TikTok is looking to grow TikTok Shop, a new shopping feature which enables merchants, brands and creators to showcase and sell products directly on TikTok through in-feed videos, LIVEs, and the product showcase tab.
The Information reported in August that Bob Kang, the top shopping executive at ByteDance, wants employees in the U.S. to focus on signing up merchants who resell popular brands on Amazon. Those workers are reportedly studying Amazon listings to find top-selling products and reaching out directly to sellers to entice them to try TikTok Shop.
Nicolas Le Bourgeois, a former director of U.S. Marketplace at Amazon, who spent more than eight years at the tech giant, jumped to TikTok in August to head up key accounts for the company’s U.S. e-commerce operations.
