ByteDance has unveiled its payment service for the Chinese version of the video app TikTok, called “Douyin Pay” on Tuesday, January 19. The move is a good step forward as it continues to expand into previously uncharted territory in the e-commerce business segment of the Chinese market.
In a statement it released to the public, Douyin said that Douyin Pay will supplement existing payment options while at the same time it pursues establishing a superior customer experience for users of the alternative payment platform.
With more than half a billion daily users of its platform, Douyin is now adding Douyin Pay to Alipay and WeChat Pay, which were the payment platforms previously available for users who may want to pay for any of the numerous goods and services on offer on the platform.
ByteDance got a foothold on the payment service in China when its founder and CEO, Zhang Yiming acquired Wuhan Hezhong Yibao Technology Co in 2020. Hezhong Yibao, at the time of its acquisition, already had a third-party payment license from the Chinese Central Bank in 2014.
ByteDance has had some taste of almost out gone US President, Donald Trump administration’s seeming harsh stance against Chinese businesses, as it had been directed to divest TikTok’s U.S. assets due to national security threats.
ByteDance insists that it is not a security threat, and continues to deny the allegations. The company has had discussions with Walmart and Oracle to move part of its assets into a new and untainted company.
Douyin is the main revenue source for ByteDance and gives us an inkling of what TikTok could metamorphose into. Douyin began sales of merchandise four years ago and is now operating a thriving e-commerce platform where over 600 million users do their online shopping daily.
ByteDance’s expansion coincides with a tightening of regulations and oversight functions by China’s financial regulators to prevent monopolistic tendencies in the mobile payment segment of the financial services architecture.
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