Recruitment demand surges 324%! TikTok training institutions make a fortune, and sellers are long gone?

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"TikTok is called 'digital fentanyl' because it is highly addictive and destructive. " In a recent media interview, US Republican politician Mike Gallagher described TikTok as an "addictive drug."

To some extent, this statement is not exaggerated. As the twin sister of Douyin, TikTok has been spreading the "short video virus" around the world since its birth in 2018. It has more than one billion global users and is a well-deserved new social media giant.

Today, this "spiritual opium" is working to add e-commerce elements, supplemented by the cooking method of live streaming, in an attempt to achieve the same addictive effect.

With the rise of overseas social + live streaming e-commerce, the entry of TikTok e-commerce is quite timely. The keen domestic training institutions have smelled the business opportunities first and are at the forefront of the cross-border e-commerce track, calling for overseas investors to flock to it.

In February 2021, TikTok fired the first shot in its e-commerce process in Indonesia, and gradually "surrounded" Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia. So far, TikTok's trajectory has covered Europe and the United States, and will further explore emerging markets such as Latin America. (For more information about TikTok, please follow TT123 Cross-border E-commerce)

  The epidemic factor and the full outbreak of the streaming media dividend have accelerated the development of overseas live streaming e-commerce, which has also provided fertile soil for the growth of TikTok e-commerce, which is centered on the live streaming sales model.

The official battle report of TikTok Shop shows that the three major promotions of Double 11, Black Friday and Double 11 in 2022 have successively triggered an overseas shopping boom, and the overall cross-border GMV has increased by 136%. Among them, nearly 60,000 merchants participated, with a total of more than 2.72 million hours of broadcasting, and more than 1.3 billion interactions between users and merchants.

▲ The picture comes from TikTok Shop cross-border e-commerce

As third-party platforms face the challenge of risk control upgrades and are stuck in the bottleneck of stock competition, the newly-launched TikTok e-commerce provides a channel for overseas companies to explore new traffic heights. However, this new business model is still in its early stages of development. In an environment where overseas consumers are not yet mature in their minds about live shopping, TikTok merchants' product operators face many challenges, and the corresponding supporting infrastructure is also not mature.

Therefore, domestic service training institutions are at the forefront of cross-border merchants, trying to become guides in this emerging overseas track.

Currently, TiKtok e-commerce training is mainly divided into two directions. The first is basic operation training, including TikTok download and registration, store entry, product creation, advertising, etc. The second is TikTok anchor training. However, this aspect of training has not yet formed a systematic model, so there is a relative shortage of talent.

Previously, some sellers suggested that New Oriental, which has transformed into a live-streaming e-commerce company, should unleash its potential in cross-border e-commerce live-streaming sales and let its English teachers take advantage of TikTok’s cross-border live-streaming. In response, New Oriental founder Yu Minhong also said: “In the future, we will open an e-commerce academy to train online celebrities and anchors engaged in e-commerce, with a focus on cultivating bilingual talents in cross-border e-commerce.”

Looking at the domestic market, from grassroots and merchants to internet celebrities and stars, more and more people are entering online live broadcast rooms, which has given rise to top anchors such as Li Jiaqi and Dong Yuhui, and has condensed a strong consumer appeal. In contrast, the live broadcast sales model abroad has just started, and there is a lack of corresponding top anchors to exert influence.

Now, with the rise of cross-border live streaming and TikTok e-commerce, more and more domestic training academies and live streaming agencies are targeting this field to cultivate and attract more talents.

In addition to New Oriental, Luo Yonghao, a top figure in the e-commerce circle, has also set his sights on TikTok live streaming training. Not long ago, Luo Yonghao's "Make Friends Overseas E-commerce Academy" project was officially launched, mainly providing cross-border service training based on the TikTok ecosystem.

It is reported that the project covers services such as market analysis, media placement, marketing planning, industry consulting, internet celebrity resource matching and agency operation, among which TikTok live broadcast training is the business focus.

In China, the "Make Friends E-commerce Academy" founded by Luo Yonghao has more than 500,000 Douyin fans, incubating and empowering live-streaming e-commerce. Now that TikTok live-streaming is becoming increasingly popular, Make Friends is taking advantage of the trend and heading towards this emerging blue ocean that is still full of imagination.

Behind the overseas expansion of training institutions, the development potential of TikTok live streaming e-commerce is confirmed. As the dividends of third-party e-commerce platforms fade and traffic growth reaches its peak, the live streaming sales format has gradually grown into a new front for e-commerce traffic diversion. TikTok, which has a huge traffic pool and a mature live streaming mechanism, has undoubtedly become a leader in overseas live streaming e-commerce.

In a studio in Guangzhou, Jacqueline Zhuang, wearing a sequined red dress, stood in front of the camera and introduced the product in fluent English: "If you wear this dress to attend your friend's wedding, you will become the focus of the whole place except the bride. "

Just a week ago, 30-year-old Jacqueline quit her job as a reporter and TV anchor, where she had worked for ten years, and switched to a promising industry - live streaming sales on TikTok.

In order to get started quickly, Jacqueline signed up for a TikTok anchor training camp launched by an agency. The main course content of the training camp is sales strategies for overseas consumers and a crash course in English slang. Students who successfully complete the course training will learn how to sell products to audiences on TikTok in English.

Bian Shiqi, who attended the same training camp as Jacqueline, also recently quit her international trade job where she had worked for 8 years and switched to TikTok's cross-border e-commerce from scratch.

"No offline store can sell millions of the same product in one day through a single store. The difference between live streaming e-commerce and shopping on platforms such as Taobao or Amazon is that the former is an interest-based e-commerce, where products are purchased while playing, while the latter is a search-based e-commerce. TikTok live streaming will be the future of cross-border e-commerce. " said Bian Shiqi.