ByteDance-owned TikTok explores local services markets in Indonesia and Thailand

TikTok, the global hit short video platform owned by ByteDance, is set to jump into Southeast Asia’s local services sector, initially enabling users in Indonesia and Thailand to obtain vouchers for restaurants, flights and hotels via links on their feeds.

Restaurants owners and merchants in those two countries are being encouraged to join the social media platform’s “TikTok Local Services”, according to a report on Friday by Chinese media outlet 36Kr. TikTok also plans to make a foray into leisure categories, allowing users to obtain coupons for flights and hotels provided by third-party service providers, according to an Indonesia-based source who declined to be identified because the initiative has not been made public yet.

On TikTok’s official recruitment website, there are nearly 30 related openings for its local services business in Singapore, Jakarta and Bangkok.

With dual headquarters in Singapore and Los Angeles, TikTok said in a statement to the South China Morning Post on Friday that local services operations in Thailand and Indonesia are still in the testing stage. It added that only a few users in those markets can see the local services offerings from merchants in their feeds, based on the app’s recommendation algorithm.

TikTok’s latest initiatives in Southeast Asia show how parent ByteDance is strategically expanding the platform’s revenue stream, following Chinese sister app Douyin’s foray into on-demand local services and online shopping on the mainland.