(Yicai Global) Dec. 18 -- The US’ biggest retailer Walmart is jumping onto the livestreamed sales bandwagon that has taken China by storm and is launching a ‘shoppable livestream’ event on Chinese video-sharing app TikTok today.

For the first time the TikTok community will have the chance to buy Walmart products at a tap of their fingers during an hour-long shoppable variety show hosted by some of the platform’s most loved creators, Walmart said on its website yesterday.

Ten TikTok stars, including Michael Le (@justmaiko) who has nearly 43 million followers, will host the ‘Holiday Shop-Along Spectacular’ at 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Walmart’s profile page on TikTok, it said.

Livestreamed sales events have become huge business in China for both e-commerce and video-sharing platforms as the Covid-19 pandemic shifts shopping habits online. TikTok’s Chinese version, Douyin, has one million e-retailers which turn over more than CNY600 million (USD91.7 million) a day. This, however, will be a first for TikTok in the US.

“It gives us a new way to engage with users and reach potential new customers, while bringing our own brand of fun – with the help of fashion-loving TikTok creators – to the platform,” the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer said.

Without having to leave the TikTok platform, viewers can shop for Walmart’s products as they are displayed by the hosts in unique and creative ways, such as a peep inside their closets, a catwalk in their living rooms or a fashion dance off, it said. The retail giant will be promoting well-known US clothing brands including Champion and Jordache as well as its own makes Free Assembly, Scoop, Sofia Jeans and others.

This is the latest in a series of moves by Walmart to get closer to TikTok and its 100 million users in the US and 700 million worldwide. It is currently in negotiations to purchase a 7.5 percent stake in the platform's global business.

When operator ByteDance Technology was ordered by the Trump administration in August to find a US buyer for its US operations or face being kicked out of the country due to national security concerns, Walmart, together with US computer giant Oracle, stepped forward to offer to buy a 20 percent stake, to be split at 7.5 percent and 12.5 percent equity respectively.

However, the fact that the Beijing-based company will remain majority owned by the Chinese is still a bone of contention and the proposed deal has yet to be greenlit by the US and Chinese governments.

Editor: Kim Taylor