BEIJING, January  28 (TMTPOST)— TikTok’s strongest Chinese rival is setting an ambitious target in e-commerce following a better-than-expected performance last year.

Source: Visual China

Kuaishou aimed to generate an annual gross merchandise volume (GMV) between RMB900 billion (US$141.5 billion) to RMB970 billion (US$152.5 billion) from the e-commerce business for this year, Tencent’s news media outlet LatePost learned on Friday. The latest target suggests the TikTok’s arch rival is seeking to increase the total sum of purchasing transactions from online commerce by more than 40% from last year, as LatePost said the platform’s e-commerce sales reached RMB680 billion in 2021, beating its GMV target for RMB650 billion, which was said to cut a little bit lower in the mid of that year.

To make aggressive efforts on branded goods is one of Kuaishou’s key guidelines this year, people close to Kuaishou told LatePost. And Kuaishou wants the brands to be recognized by consumers, but they don’t have to be those top brands in various sectors, the person added. It is reported that branded goods contributed about RMB65 billion in last year’s e-commerce GMV for Kuaishou, and the company planned to increase their GMV size to about RMB180 billion.

As one of the most popular short video platforms in China, Kuaishou recently made more efforts for expansion beyond the sector where it made its name and made a fortune. It announced In late December to reach the strategic partnership with Meituan, the country’s leading food delivery service provider, to improve interoperability. The two parties will work together on content-oriented marketing, online transaction and offline performance of the transaction-related service, so as to create a complete one-stop consumption chain. According to the statement, Coucou Hotpot-Tea Break, Zi Guang Yuan, Shuyi Tealicious, 85°C Bakery Cafe, CoCo Fresh Tea & Juice and many other popular restaurant chains would be the first merchants to land in Kuaishou through Meituan’s applets. And these partners will begin trail operation in this weekend’s New Year’s Day of 2022 and the Chinese New Year holiday starting from February 1.

The move came after Kuaishou just ended its more than seven years’ leader-duo era. In last October, Su Hua resigned as CEO, succeed by Cheng Yixiao, the co-founder, executive director and the Chief Product Officer. The management change was said to aim to address the leadership duo mode’s low efficiency since both of two leaders were in charge of businesses and neither of them concerned future development.