Exclusive | China’s Kuaishou aims to replicate model in overseas expansion plan with focus on Middle East, Brazil and Southeast Asia
- China’s second-largest short video platform operator plans to open an office in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, soon, CFO Jin Bing says
- Like China, ‘people love to watch good quality content, engage with each other, and purchase products or services online’ in these overseas markets, he adds
Kuaishou Technology, China’s second-largest short video and live streaming platform operator, is hoping to replicate its winning strategy at home in overseas markets given the big opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and Brazil.
The tech company has been making frequent stops in the Middle East and plans to set up offices in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia soon, chief financial officer Jin Bing said.
“There’s a great opportunity in MENA, and Brazil, they have large populations, decent purchasing power and they are receptive to new business, ideas and models,” he said in an interview during a forum in Hong Kong earlier this week. “There are similarities between China and these markets. People love to watch good quality content, engage with each other, and purchase products or services online.”
Beijing-based Kuaishou is looking into new emerging markets while ByteDance-owned TikTok, the industry leader, struggles to fend off regulatory attacks in the US and heightened scrutiny in other Western markets. Apart from the MENA region and Brazil, Southeast Asia is also among its target markets, Jin added.
The Middle East and Brazil have a large pool of population with strong purchasing power and are not dominated by TikTok, according to Kuaishou.
“We are a perfect platform or model to solve that issue because we have a lot of users,” said Jin. “As long as we understand demand, we can find the relevant suppliers, and we can match them.”
