ByteDance on the Fast Track With a High Level of Revenue and Strong Growth

Chinese New Year is just around the corner, marking the end of the Lunar Year of the Dragon and the beginning of the Lunar Year of the Snake. But before we ring in the New Year, let's take a look back at the past few years. There have been many changes among the world's largest eCommerce companies, with Chinese businesses gaining more and more ground. 

Alibaba Once Again Holds the Highest eCommerce Activity Revenue 

The Chinese conglomerate Alibaba Group Holding, Ltd. is at the top of the heap. Even though the company has seen a negative growth trend after its peak of US$1.3 trillion in eCommerce activity revenue in 2021, it remains at the top. It appears that Alibaba has not recovered from the Chinese government's crackdown from 2021 and 2022. In addition, China's economic woes have strong implications, as it is the most important market for Alibaba, where it generates 88.3% of its 2023 activity revenue. Chinese consumers have cut back on spending due to a real estate crisis and increased job insecurity among young people. 

This development has helped Amazon.com, Inc. get closer to its biggest rival, Alibaba. A major difference between these two companies is their audience. Amazon largely sells to individual customers, while Alibaba works with businesses. This translates into higher profits, as businesses are more solvent and therefore tend to order in larger quantities than private shoppers. 

However, with an eCommerce activity revenue of US$761 billion to US$1.1 trillion in 2024, the difference between Amazon and Alibaba remains big. Other competitors with lower eCommerce activity revenue like PDD with US$684 billion stand closer to the U.S. company – and the competition, as we all know, never sleeps. Just like ByteDance. 

ByteDance Is the Fastest Growing Company Among the Top 5 eCommerce Companies 

In the last five years, the Chinese company ByteDance, Ltd. has climbed from US$5.8 billion (2020) to US$618 billion in eCommerce activity revenue. In other words, the company has multiplied its eCommerce activity revenue by over 118. This is due to the success of its social media and eCommerce platform douyin.com and the related rise of social and livestream commerce in China. 

The boom around Douyin propelled ByteDance so much that it managed to knock two big companies off their fifth and fourth places in the world's top eCommerce companies. First it was the U.S. company Walmart, Inc. in 2021. And last year, ByteDance surpassed JD.com, Inc. – as PDD Holdings, Inc. did in 2023.  

Douyin Pushes ByteDance’s Growth Rate to 51% between 2023 and 2024 

Over the years, ByteDance's absolute growth rate has evolved from US$66.5 billion between 2019 and 2020 to US$210.6 between 2023 and 2024. In particular, its latest growth rate, which represents an increase of 51.7%, is rather high compared to its current competitors. This development is thanks to ByteDance's social media platform, which works primarily with short, engaging videos that effectively blend entertainment and commerce.  

As a result, users looking to consume content are nudged toward impulse purchases with almost no friction. ByteDance is hitting the ‘Zeitgeist’ of digital consumption trends. At its current rate of growth, the company is on track to become the third largest eCommerce company in the world this year.