Amazon + TikTok: An Unholy Alliance

What It Tells Us About the Future of RMN-Media Company Partnerships

Amazon and TikTok recently announced a partnership that can only be described as an unholy alliance. According to TikTok, “Users can now seamlessly discover and purchase their favorite products from Amazon directly within the TikTok app. This shopping experience is powered by Amazon through ads placed on TikTok and allows users to complete product purchases with Amazon in TikTok’s native environment.”

Such alliances are typically struck in opposition to a common enemy. But in this case, there’s no obvious rival on the other side of wall. Google? This one has little to do with search, so no. Meta? Maybe that argument could be made if Amazon hadn’t just inked a similar deal with the company.

So why did the growing ecommerce rivals opt for cooperation over competition?

The answer offers an important clue about the future of retail media.