TikTok is taking control as it looks to grow its e-commerce business.

The company is rolling out a new managed services program in the US that will give it much more control over the performance of some of its e-commerce sellers, according to documentation seen by Business Insider.

The company is currently seeking participants for a pilot program in which they will oversee nearly every aspect of a merchant’s Store business, including marketing, running automated ads and testing creatives through its GMV Max tool, optimizing product listings, hiring creators, and creating content (including hundreds of AI-generated videos).

Sellers will still be responsible for listing products in the Store and sending free samples to influencers, but not much else. Enrolling in the program will cost sellers a flat fee of $10,000 plus a commission of 10% to 20% per sale, depending on the brand’s product category, according to the filing. The program is open to both local US sellers and foreign companies selling in the US.

TikTok did not respond to a request for comment.

TikTok Shop’s move toward managed services will put it in direct competition with its Shop agency partners, which help brands with tasks like hiring affiliate creators and running ad campaigns. The company has leaned heavily on those third-party partners to get its U.S. e-commerce business off the ground since launching in 2023.

Its hands-on approach differs from other U.S. e-commerce players, such as Amazon and Walmart, which offer some managed services related to fulfillment or customer service but tend to direct brands toward self-service portals for other tasks.

TikTok’s managed service pilot, set to begin in August, is the latest in a series of recent changes within the Shop ecosystem that have put more of the business under its direct control. In September, TikTok made it mandatory for store brands to use its artificial intelligence advertising tool, GMV Max, when running ads, for example. Earlier this year, the company planned to require all sellers to switch to its shipping and logistics program, Fulfilled by TikTok, but ultimately backtracked on the policy change.

The direct control strategy mirrors that of its sister app in China, Douyin, said Fabian Ouwehand, founder of social commerce firm Socialscale.ai.

“In China, it’s a more common strategy, especially for Douyin and Xiaohongshu,” Ouwehand said, referring to the app known as RedNote in the United States.

“It seems like this is another experiment they’re running, which has proven to be quite successful on Douyin, to offer that support network directly from the company itself,” he said.

TikTok’s business has begun to look more like Douyin’s in recent years as its e-commerce leadership has shifted more toward executives with experience working on the Chinese app, employees told Business Insider last year.

TikTok Shop has become a formidable e-commerce player in the US, with more than $23 billion in sales in the country this year, according to a forecast from EMARKETER, Business Insider’s sister company. It remains a small share of total US e-commerce sales compared to Amazon, which EMARKETER projects will surpass $500 billion in US sales by 2026.