Image Source: Visual China

BEIJING, February 14 (TMTPOST) — ByteDance has recently shut down its international e-commerce platform Dmonstudio that specialized in women’s clothing.

The e-commerce site was officially suspended operation on February 11, 2022, which made it a very short-lived site. The site was registered only on November 3, 2021.

“We regret to tell you that Dmonstudio has ceased operations on February 11, 2022. Thank you for visiting our store, and for shopping with us,” the company said in a notice. “We will continue to provide after-sale services to our users who have purchased on our website.”

When Dmonstudio was first founded, it was considered an e-commerce project that ByteDance launched to compete with SHEIN, a popular Chinese fast fashion brand. SHEIN is currently one of the most popular e-commerce sites in women’s clothing. According to open information, Dmonstudio hired nearly 100 former employees of SHEIN.

Dmonstudio was an important part of ByteDance’s cross-border e-commerce business. It is a class-S project at ByteDance. Dmonstudio’s management team directly answered to ByteDance’s e-commerce business director Kang Zeyu.

ByteDance has not given up its e-commerce business but rather increases investment in the sector.

In September 2021, ByteDanxe’s popular video-sharing platform TikTok launched TikTok Shopping after TikTok users reached one billion. TikTok shopping has two e-commerce modes – TikTOk Shop and TikTok Storefront. TikTok Shopping allows vendors to add product links to short videos and livestream sessions. It also pushes advertisements to users’ video feeds.

ByteDance then launched cross-border e-commerce platform Fanno several later, primarily targeting the European market and selling clothes, accessories, toys and cosmetics, etc.

TikTok Shopping, Fanno and Dmonstudio formed ByteDance’s global e-commerce business.

The suspension of Dmonstudio’s operation signifies that ByteDance might have encountered some obstacles in developing its e-commerce business.

Dmonstudio had over one million users, according to the platform’s introduction. It provided services in over 100 countries across the globe, covering regions such as North America, Europe and the Middle East. The platform also had its own warehouses and promised to deliver products to its customers in 5~15 working days. However, products on Dmonstudio were priced slightly higher than products on SHEIN.