• by Colin Kirkland , March 6, 2025

TikTok is striving to build out its local commerce business in the U.S., following an exact blueprint of its Chinese doppelganger app Douyin. 

The video-sharing platform, owned by ByteDance, is in the process of hiring nearly two dozen people in select cities across the U.S. to lead the charge in pairing local merchants and vendors with TikTok creators and users, according to a new report by Axios.

“The immediate focus will be on top local services partners in travel to further accelerate service offerings on TikTok,” one job listing reads, while other listings seek out lifestyle creators knowledgeable in food and travel.

In preparing to expand the seamlessness of its local commerce offerings, TikTok is looking to capitalize on its positive impact on the American economy.

When the Senate began voting on a bill that could still effectively ban TikTok in the U.S., the short-form video sharing app worked on building its case for itself as a benefit to American small business owners. In April, TikTok released an economic impact report stating that the platform generated $14.7 billion for American SMBs in 2023.

The report showed that TikTok supported 7 million U.S. businesses and 224,000 jobs in 2023, with the largest impacts happening in California, Texas, Florida, New York and Illinois.

The company's current job listings – which are seeking people based in Seattle, Los Angeles and New York – also come as TikTok Shop – the company's in-app shopping feature – grows in the U.S., the U.K. and Europe, attracting a steady growth in in-app spending.

Between Q4 2023 and Q4 2024, TikTok's in-app purchase revenue in the U.S. rose by $1.47 billion, while consumers spent $6 billion on in-app purchases across the globe – up from $4.4 billion in 2023. According to Sensor Tower, this was more than double the revenue from any other app or game in 2024.