What is Douyin? The platform your China strategy needs

For brands operating in China, Taobao and JD.com remain staples, but Douyin is quickly becoming the hotspot for both discovery and shopping.

Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, has seen dramatic growth since their launch in 2016. In 2024, Douyin saw over 700 million active users each day and ecommerce sales reached RMB 3.5 trillion (490 billion USD).

Those numbers make one thing clear: Douyin isn’t just a place to show up. It’s a vibrant marketplace that’s shaping the future of ecommerce in China. 

Learn more about Douyin and why it deserves a key spot in your China strategy for 2026.

What is Douyin?

Douyin is China’s original version of TikTok, launched in 2016 by ByteDance. It’s a short-video app where users create, share, and watch bite-sized videos, live streams, and interactive content. Beyond entertainment, Douyin has grown into a major platform for shopping, brand discovery, and digital trends in China.

If your brand wants to reach consumers in China, consider using Douyin. It’s especially effective for connecting with younger, trend-driven audiences and driving awareness or sales through short videos, live content, and influencer campaigns.

Douyin vs TikTok

Why your china strategy needs Douyin

Douyin is now China’s #1 attention engine

Douyin leads China’s attention economy, engaging over 700 million monthly users who spend nearly two hours a day on the app—more than WeChat or Taobao.

It now reaches all major age groups and city tiers, blending content and shopping to drive purchases through trends and stories, not search.

Douyin’s commerce engine is built for conversions 

Douyin combines inspiration and purchase in a single app, letting users go from content to checkout without leaving the platform. In 2024, global social commerce sales reached $1.6 trillion, with 71% of Chinese consumers preferring to buy through platforms like Douyin. 

When KELO-COTE partnered with Pattern, the brand leveraged Douyin’s livestreaming and creator partnerships to drive results. By activating six dedicated livestreamers and over 600 creators in the personal care space, KELO-COTE achieved daily visibility and realized a 3.8x ROI. 

Discovery replaces search

Douyin’s algorithm predicts what users want before they search, turning shopping into an interest-based discovery experience rather than relying on keyword searches. 

Unlike JD or Taobao, Douyin surfaces products on the For You feed by analyzing engagement signals such as watch time, likes, and comments. 

As a result, many consumers end up buying items they didn’t originally intend to find.

Winning on Douyin requires a partner model 

In China, brands rarely succeed alone.

Douyin's pace and complexity make it one of the world’s most demanding ecommerce platforms. Daily video production, creator management, ad optimization, customer engagement, and fulfillment all require local expertise and resources.

Success takes more than just a marketing agency. It takes a partner who shares risk, offers proven expertise, and is invested in your results.

Pattern’s partner-first model delivers exactly that. We buy your inventory, manage operations from end to end, and scale your brand on Douyin with local experts, an advanced fulfillment network, and AI-powered adtech.

When you win, we win.

Douyin moves fast. Winners move faster.

Speed is crucial in China’s ecommerce landscape. Trends rise and fade within days, and new categories can appear overnight. A single livestream can propel a product to national bestseller status by morning.

Success comes down to execution. Pattern matches Douyin’s pace, running over 100 hours of livestreams each week and activating over 1,000 KOLs per campaign. Most partners see measurable ROI within 12 months.

Our team combines local expertise, global strategy, and continuous optimization so brands can capture demand as it happens and sustain growth beyond short-term trends.

On Douyin, opportunities come and go quickly. We keep brands ready to seize them.

The Douyin opportunity 

In China, the Douyin opportunity is massive and moving fast. Whether you’re launching or scaling, Pattern’s China Accelerator team can help you cut through complexity and grow with confidence.

Schedule your free consultation or request your Douyin Scorecard to see how your brand stacks up and how fast we can help you grow.