The participation of short video platforms Douyin and Kuaishou in 618, China's second-largest e-commerce festival, are a reminder that China's e-commerce landscape isn't just Alibaba, JD and Pinduoduo.

China's two largest short video platforms, Douyin and Kuaishou, have embraced cross-border e-commerce. This further illustrates how these short video platforms are building out their e-commerce capabilities. Last December, Douyin flagged its intentions to help merchants sell through Douyin via cross-border e-commerce. It subsequently started onboarding merchants in January 2021....

250,000 merchants and brands from around the globe participated in this year’s 6.18 on Tmall, more than double last year. Of these, two-thirds expected Tmall would be their primary sales channel for 618, according to a third-party survey.