• by Colin Kirkland , 7 hours ago

Ahead of last-minute Christmas shopping and post-holiday deals, TikTok’s e-commerce platform TikTok Shop is rolling out digital gift cards, aligning itself in direct competition with legacy e-commerce companies like Amazon and eBay.

TikTok's gift card offerings invite users and gift-givers the option to spend between $10 and $500, with the ability to customize the digital cards with a library of animated design choices.

When someone receives a TikTok Shop digital gift card, they can choose to respond with a digital thank-you card or send a digital Shop card for someone’s birthday, wedding or other traditional card-sending occasion.

Like eBay and Amazon digital cards, TikTok's offering is delivered through email and can be immediately redeemed on the app, with its specific value being added to the person's Shop balance.

Following its $100 million Black Friday sales record last year, TikTok Shop has reported over $500 million in U.S. sales over the the four days of this season's Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Last quarter, the company made $19 billion in global sales, making it almost the same size as eBay, which brought in $20.1 billion in Q3.

Although the majority of TikTok Shop’s initial merchandise was being sold cheaply by small emerging brands, the platform has begun selling more expensive and exclusive items from luxury brands, including $11,000 handbags from Hermes and Chanel as well as rare offerings from Louis Vuitton, Nike, Rolex, Cartier and more, according to a recent report by Bloomberg.

The integration of digital gift cards may help further boost the company's holiday sales numbers.

For now, TikTok Shop digital gift cards will only be available for users based in the U.S.

This decision may prove helpful as the China-owned tech giant works toward a potential deal with the White House in regards to a U.S.-based version of TikTok.

By early next year, TikTok plans to allow U.S. consumers to personalize digital gift cards with videos, as well as an “interactive unboxing that captures their reaction in real-time,” according to TechCrunch.