Black Friday, which takes place the day after Thanksgiving, is known as one of the biggest and most important shopping holidays in the U.S., as it offers customers the biggest discounts of the year on a wide range of products.
This shopping holiday has historically been the busiest day of the year for retailers nationwide, generating some of the highest number of sales and profits in a single day.
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Big retailers like Amazon and Walmart have dominated Black Friday for years by earning the trust of millions of people who continue to rely on them as go-to value retailers due to their generous discounts.
Although these companies still rank among the top retail giants in the U.S., a new contender has recently entered the game and may soon take down these long-lived empires, threatening their e-commerce businesses.
Despite launching its e-commerce business in the U.S. a little over a year ago, this rival has already surpassed its Black Friday sales expectations, winning over a large chunk of the retail giants' clientele.
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TikTok is one of the fastest-growing social media platforms and the fifth most used worldwide. The video-focused platform has over one billion active users across the globe, including 170 million in the U.S.
In September 2023, TikTok launched TikTok Shop, an e-commerce platform within the original app that allows sellers to promote and sell their products directly to users.
Because of TikTok's ability to make practically anything go viral, it was almost a given that this new e-commerce addition would become just as popular and lucrative as its short-form video entertainment business.
TikTok Shop sales increase amid a potential ban in the U.S.
This week, TikTok Shop, the social media app's shopping platform, announced that on Black Friday, it had tripled its sales in the U.S. to over $100 million, as first reported by Bloomberg.
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According to TikTok, from Black Friday to Cyber Monday, TikTok Shop increased sales by 165% annually, drawing over 7 billion views of posts created by users who used the hashtags #tiktokshopblackfriday and #tiktokshopcybermonday.
Although a great accomplishment and lucrative business for TikTok, this quick success in its retail business may not last long, as a legal ruling could ban the app from the U.S. as soon as next year.
TikTok could potentially be banned from the U.S. as soon as next year
This announcement comes amid a years-long battle to potentially ban TikTok in the U.S. due to growing concerns that the social media app poses a serious threat to national security.
In April, U.S. President Joe Biden signed a law that could ban TikTok from legally existing in the U.S. unless ByteDance, its parent company, sells the social media app to a U.S. entity within a nine-month period.
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On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. rejected ByteDance's argument that its potential ban in the U.S. was unconstitutional and violated First Amendment rights. This ruling would allow the U.S. government to legally ban TikTok from being available in the country due to national security concerns unless the social media app is sold.
ByteDance has until Jan. 19 to sell TikTok before the ban is enforced. However, now that Donald Trump is set to become president of the U.S. next year, it's up to him whether he will enforce the ban or not; he has yet to announce his decision.
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