近期，有关TikTok Shop在美国市场裁员的消息引发关注。根据Mu Qing的内部信，此次裁员涉及电商美国运营、运营中心和全球重点客户团队。裁员的原因是TikTok Shop在美国市场的表现未达预期，虽然GMV达到90亿美元，但增长低于预期。文章分析了ROI、直播销售占比低以及成本结构等问题，并提到了字节跳动对美国市场的战略调整。随着TikTok Shop在欧洲、拉丁美洲和东南亚市场的扩张，以及部分地区ROI的改善，美国市场的压力日益显现。文章认为，TikTok出售美国业务的可能性对TikTok Shop的影响较小，关税可能带来更大的结构性影响。

🛍️TikTok Shop在美国市场进行裁员，涉及电商运营、运营中心和全球重点客户团队，旨在优化运营模式。

💰尽管TikTok Shop在美国的GMV达到90亿美元，但表现未达预期，尤其是在ROI方面，字节跳动对数据表现有较高要求。

💡美国市场直播销售占比低，仅有10%的GMV来自直播，且头部直播间的销售额远低于越南市场，这反映出美国市场的运营效率和成本结构问题。

🌍随着TikTok Shop在欧洲、拉丁美洲和东南亚市场的扩张，以及部分地区ROI的改善，美国市场的压力增加，促使公司进行战略调整。

⚖️文章认为，TikTok出售美国业务的可能性对TikTok Shop的影响较小，关税可能带来更大的结构性影响。

Last week, news circulated that TikTok Shop was preparing for layoffs in the US market. A letter from Mu Qing was widely circulated: 

Over the past month, I have taken the opportunity to learn and evaluate how best to support US business in meeting the opportunities and challenges ahead of us. We have undergone careful analysis of how to create more efficient operating models for the team’s long-term growth and, as a result, will be communicating organizational and personnel changes to the E-Commerce US Operations, US Operations Center, and Global Key Accounts teams beginning early on Wednesday, May 21 (PT).

Our goal is to communicate with employees swiftly and with as much clarity as possible. All updates will be made via your company email, followed by HRBP outreach. To best facilitate these conversations, it is recommended that you work remotely on Wednesday, May 21.

We appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding as we navigate these difficult discussions. We are committed to supporting our teams throughout this transition with as much compassion and support as possible.

Many from the community asked us about our thoughts on the layoffs. Here are a few quick pointers: 

According to TikTok Shop in the U.S. 2024 report jointly released by Momentum Works and Tabcut, TikTok Shop GMV in the US reached US$9 billion in 2024. While this made US the largest country for TikTok Shop by GMV, it was certainly below expectations of ByteDance leadership; While the most pressing issue was probably ROI (as ByteDance is a very data driven company), there are a few indicators we can see from the report: 
a. only 10% of the GMV came from live;
b. Only four livestreaming sessions in the US have surpassed USD $1 million in GMV. Amongst which the top one generated less than half of the GMV compared to the top session in Vietnam; And of course, the US cost structure would be very different from that of Vietnam. Earlier this month, a disgruntled former employee wrote a long article (in Chinese) complaining about all the inefficiencies in the US market. The article is now off the internet – but it surely reached the higher levels of ByteDance; Now with TikTok Shop launching across key countries in Europe and Latin America, and especially with some of the markets in Southeast Asia showing improving ROIs (and market share). The pressure on TikTok Shop’s US operations is evident; That’s probably why Mu Qing was put in charge. He was formerly the vice president of ecommerce for Douyin, and transferred to TikTok Shop US as the vice president of cross-border ecommerce. Since the restructuring in April, he currently takes the lead of the US operations for TikTok Shop;The restructuring and layoffs will probably last for a few rounds – we have seen this happening with other ByteDance subsidiaries (including Indonesia’s Tokopedia, which TikTok Shop acquired in 2023);
Will the potential sale of TikTok in the US affect TikTok Shop operations? Less likely in our opinion – the tariffs probably have a bigger structural impact here. 

The post Behind TikTok Shop’s US layoffs first appeared on The Low Down - Momentum Works.