🔍 New Image Search Feature
TikTok is testing a new image search feature in TikTok Shop. Users can take or upload a photo to find similar products. This feature is available to users in the U.S. and Southeast Asia. Jonah Manzano first spotted the feature. It appears as a camera icon in the search bar.
📱 Competing with Giants
TikTok’s image search feature aims to compete with Google Lens and Amazon’s visual search tool. Google execs noted in 2022 that TikTok and Instagram were already cutting into their search product. Now, TikTok hopes to attract users to its e-commerce platform and boost sales through TikTok Shop.
🌐 Expanding E-commerce
TikTok Shop now hosts over 15M sellers globally, including 500K in the U.S. The company invested $400M in platform safety and built a team of 7,500 to maintain a secure shopping environment. TikTok aims to keep users engaged and spending on its app with this new feature.
🚫 Facing Challenges
TikTok’s e-commerce expansion comes amid potential regulatory challenges. In April 2024, President Biden signed a bill to ban TikTok unless ByteDance, its Chinese parent company, sells it within a year. Despite this, TikTok continues to enhance its app, betting on e-commerce as a major revenue source.
Will TikTok's new image search feature dethrone Google?
