TikTok Shop Is Reportedly Eyeing Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and Australia for Early 2027
TikTok Shop is planning to launch in three new markets, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and Australia, in the first quarter of 2027, according to industry sources cited by Chinese ecommerce outlet Ebrun. No official confirmation has come from TikTok or ByteDance, so treat this as a credible early signal rather than a locked-in launch date. TikTok Shop has a documented history of expansion plans that shifted or stalled, including a 2023 staff claim about entering Brazil and Australia that never materialized.
Still, the three markets named here are genuinely distinct from each other, and if the report holds, each one presents a different opportunity and a different barrier to entry for sellers already running a TikTok Shop storefront elsewhere.
Saudi Arabia: Big Audience, Real Compliance Hurdles
Saudi Arabia already has roughly 28 million monthly active TikTok users, but ecommerce penetration in the country sits around just 10%, leaving substantial room to grow. Beauty sales specifically surged 300% month over month during Ramadan, a data point that signals real seasonal purchasing power in categories TikTok Shop already performs well in elsewhere.
Why Saudi Arabia Has Taken This Long
TikTok content and creator activity have been strong in Saudi Arabia for years, but a native, local Seller Center allowing merchants to register and sell directly has remained conspicuously absent. As of mid-2026, sellers in Gulf markets could only reach Saudi shoppers through cross-border sellers based in countries like China or the UK, not through a local storefront.
The barriers to entry explain some of that delay. Merchants entering Saudi Arabia will need SASO certification, the country's mandatory product conformity standard, along with compliance with a 15% VAT. Neither is a small operational lift compared to markets where TikTok Shop already runs.
South Korea: A Massive Market That Demands Real Localization
South Korea's annual ecommerce transaction volume exceeds $150 billion, and the country's global influence in K-beauty gives international sellers a natural entry point into a market already primed to buy skincare and cosmetics content-first.
The catch is that South Korean consumers are known for high brand expectations and low tolerance for generic, un-localized marketing. Strong branding and content built specifically for the local audience, not simply translated from an existing campaign, will likely determine which sellers actually succeed here rather than just gain initial visibility.
Australia: The Quiet Third Market
Australia gets less specific detail in current reporting than the other two, but it fits a pattern TikTok Shop has followed elsewhere: a large, English-speaking, TikTok-engaged audience in a market where local Seller Center access has been requested by sellers for years without a confirmed timeline. If this launch does materialize, Australia likely serves as a lower-friction entry point compared to Saudi Arabia's certification requirements or Korea's localization demands.
What This Means If You're Planning International Expansion
If you already sell on TikTok Shop, this report is worth tracking rather than acting on yet. A confirmed timeline gives you lead time for compliance work, particularly Saudi Arabia's SASO certification, which can take a while depending on your category. The underlying market data is useful even without a confirmed launch: Saudi Arabia's Ramadan beauty sales and South Korea's $150 billion ecommerce market are real signals worth factoring into your expansion planning, regardless of which platform gets you there first.
Platform-native expertise also matters more than general ecommerce experience when a new market opens. QVC's turnaround leaned on hiring people who had actually built TikTok Shop's business, not outside retail generalists, a lesson worth keeping in mind for your own hiring if you push into any of these three markets.
For now, watch for an official TikTok announcement before building a launch plan around this date. TikTok Shop has a track record of expansions that slipped or didn't happen.
