Temu (marketplace)

Temu is an online marketplace operated by the Chinese e-commerce company PDD Holdings Inc. and headquartered in Boston.[5][6] It offers heavily discounted goods,[7] which are mostly shipped to consumers directly from China.[8][9]

Temu
FoundedJuly 2022 (2022-07)
Area served
List
  • Australia[1]
  • Belgium
  • Bulgaria[2]
  • Canada[3]
  • Czech Republic
  • Finland
  • France[2]
  • Germany[2]
  • Greece
  • Ireland[2]
  • Israel[4]
  • Italy[2]
  • Japan
  • Malaysia
  • Mexico
  • Netherlands[2]
  • New Zealand[1]
  • Norway
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Slovakia
  • Slovenia
  • Spain[2]
  • Sweden
  • United Arab Emirates
  • United Kingdom[2]
  • United States[5]
IndustryE-commerce
ServicesOnline shopping
ParentPDD Holdings[5]
URLwww.temu.com
LaunchedSeptember 2022

History and business model

Temu is owned and operated by the Chinese-based and Cayman Islands registered[10] company PDD Holdings, which also owns Pinduoduo, a popular online commerce platform in China.[11] The platform allows China-based vendors to sell and ship directly to customers without having to rely on intermediate distributors in the destination country, thus increasing affordability for any buyers.[12] Pinduoduo business models also aim to enlarge customer reaches by voluntarily lowering its profit margins on delivery and sellers' end.[13] Temu offers free goods to some users who successfully encourage new users via affiliate codes, social media, and gamification.[7] Online purchases on Temu can be made using an Internet browser or through a dedicated mobile app.[14]

Temu uses online advertising campaigns on Facebook and Instagram. According to Sarah Perez writing for TechCrunch, "These ads appear to be working to boost Temu's installs. But dig into the app's reviews and you'll find similar complaints to Wish, including scammy listings, damaged and delayed deliveries, incorrect orders and lack of customer service."[14] According to Politico, "Apple said the company previously violated the company's mandatory privacy rules and misled people about how it uses their data."[15] Temu apologized and corrected their mistakes afterwards.[16] According to Andrew Chow writing for Time, Temu is also starting to develop a reputation for undelivered packages and unresponsive customer service.[7]

The Temu platform first went live in the United States in September 2022.[5] In late 2022, the Temu app was the most frequently downloaded app in the United States.[14] In February 2023, Temu launched in Canada.[17] That same month, the company aired a Super Bowl ad.[18] In March 2023, Temu launched in Australia and New Zealand.[19] In the following month, Temu was launched in France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK.[20] It was also the most downloaded app on the Google Play Store in Belgium, Portugal, Ireland and Sweden, according to Similarweb.[21]

Reactions

United States
See also: China–United States trade war

In May 2023, the United States–China Economic and Security Review Commission raised concerns about risks to users' personal data on Temu after Pinduoduo, its sister app in China, was suspended from Google Play because some of its versions, not available on Google's app store, were found to contain malware.[22][23][24] Two days after releasing an update to remove the exploits, Pinduoduo disbanded the team of engineers and product managers who had developed them. According to a CNN source, most of the team was transferred to Temu, working in various departments, but a core group of engineers remained at Pinduoduo.[25]

On May 17, 2023, Greg Gianforte, the governor of the US state of Montana banned Temu on government devices state-wide, along with ByteDance applications (including TikTok), WeChat, and Telegram.[26][21]

In June 2023, the United States House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party stated that Temu does not maintain "even the façade of a meaningful compliance program" with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act to keep goods made by forced labor off its platform.[27][28][29][30]

Lawsuits

In December 2022, Temu was sued by rival company Shein, alleging that Temu had enlisted online influencers "to make false and deceptive statements" about Shein to promote its own goods. Temu later sued Shein in July 2023, alleging that Shein had "engaged in a campaign of threats, intimidation, false assertions of infringement, and attempts to impose baseless punitive fines" on clothing manufacturers thought to be working with Temu.[31] On July 31, 2023, Shein won a temporary restraining order against Temu in a different case, alleging that the company used Shein's copyrighted images in product listings.[32] Later in August, Shein sought an injunction against Temu, filed in London's High Court, alleging the company had "identified thousands of instances" where Temu's sellers copied its listing photos. Shein requested all violating posts be taken down and at least £100,000 in damages.[33]

See also

References
  1. "China-backed shopping app that could unseat Kmart, Big W". News.com.au. April 18, 2023. Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
  2. Qu, Tracy (April 24, 2023). "Chinese budget shopping app Temu opens in Europe amid rapid expansion". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on April 25, 2023. Retrieved April 25, 2023.
  3. McLymore, Arriana; Hall, Casey (March 10, 2023). "Shein, Temu in fierce fight over US market for $10 dresses". Reuters. Archived from the original on April 25, 2023. Retrieved April 25, 2023.
  4. https://www.ynetnews.com/business/article/bke8clqg6
  5. Murray, Conor (February 17, 2023). "What To Know About Temu: New Chinese-Owned Fast Fashion App Draws Comparisons (Good And Bad) To Shein". Forbes. Archived from the original on February 26, 2023. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
  6. Maruf, Ramishah (June 28, 2023). "Shein sent American influencers to China. Social media users are furious | CNN Business". CNN. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
  7. Chow, Andrew R. (December 29, 2022). "The Truth About Temu, the Most Downloaded New App in America". Time. Retrieved March 8, 2023.
  8. Williams, Maria. "Temu's Best Value Global E-Commerce Platform". The Times. Retrieved September 6, 2023.
  9. Kharpal, Arjun. "China's e-commerce giant Pinduoduo quietly launches US shopping site in Amazon challenge". CNBC. Archived from the original on September 17, 2022. Retrieved September 18, 2022.
  10. "PDD Holdings". www.sec.gov. Archived from the original on June 2, 2023. Retrieved June 2, 2023.
  11. Liao, Rita (November 22, 2022). "Pinduoduo's sister shopping app Temu tops US App Store". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on December 11, 2022. Retrieved December 11, 2022.
  12. Conrad, Jennifer (October 26, 2022). "How Retail App Temu Lures US Shoppers With Mind-Bending Prices: The new ecommerce platform can beat Amazon on price by shipping direct from China. It's already racing up the charts". Wired. Archived from the original on February 18, 2023. Retrieved February 11, 2023.
  13. Liu, Tracy Wen. "Temu Is Losing Millions of Dollars to Send You Cheap Socks". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved September 7, 2023.
  14. Perez, Sarah (January 28, 2023). "This Week in Apps: Temu's hot streak, Walmart's m-commerce & an Apple XR App Store". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on February 11, 2023. Retrieved February 11, 2023.
  15. Goujard, Clothilde (July 24, 2023). "Booming Chinese shopping app faces Western scrutiny over data security". Politico Europe. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  16. "拼多多和特斯拉的隐私泄露，究竟会引爆什么？_数据_相关_用户". www.sohu.com. Retrieved September 6, 2023.
  17. McLymore, Arriana; Hall, Casey (March 10, 2023). "Shein, Temu in fierce fight over US market for $10 dresses". Reuters. Archived from the original on April 25, 2023. Retrieved April 25, 2023.
  18. Morley, Olivia (February 12, 2023). "Ecommerce Startup Temu Airs First Super Bowl Spot—Twice". Adweek. Archived from the original on February 13, 2023. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  19. "China-backed shopping app that could unseat Kmart, Big W". News.com.au. April 18, 2023. Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
  20. Qu, Tracy (April 24, 2023). "Chinese budget shopping app Temu opens in Europe amid rapid expansion". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on April 25, 2023. Retrieved April 25, 2023.
  21. Kern, Rebecca (May 17, 2023). "Montana bans TikTok for all residents". Politico. Archived from the original on May 24, 2023. Retrieved June 13, 2023.
  22. Chiang, Sheila (May 17, 2023). "Temu accused of data risks after sister app was suspended for malware". CNBC. Archived from the original on May 17, 2023. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
  23. Leong, Clarence; Purnell, Newley (March 21, 2023). "Google Halts Download of Chinese App Pinduoduo Over Security Concerns". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on March 21, 2023. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  24. "Google Suspends Chinese E-Commerce App Pinduoduo Over Malware". Krebs on Security. March 22, 2023. Archived from the original on April 5, 2023. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
  25. Gan, Nectar; Xiong, Yong; Liu, Juliana (April 2, 2023). "'I've never seen anything like this:' One of China's most popular apps has the ability to spy on its users, say experts". CNN. Archived from the original on April 5, 2023. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
  26. Peters, Jay (May 17, 2023). "Montana bans Telegram, WeChat, and Temu from government devices". The Verge. Archived from the original on May 20, 2023. Retrieved May 20, 2023.
  27. Hadero, Haleluya (June 22, 2023). "Congressional report says there's an extremely high risk Temu's supply chains have forced labor". Associated Press. Archived from the original on June 23, 2023. Retrieved June 23, 2023.
  28. Cox, Chelsey (June 22, 2023). "Retailers Shein and Temu violate U.S. tariff law and evade human rights reviews on imports, House report says". CNBC. Archived from the original on June 23, 2023. Retrieved June 24, 2023.
  29. "Temu: Risk popular website sells forced labour goods". BBC News. June 22, 2023. Archived from the original on June 25, 2023. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  30. Swanson, Ana; Fu, Claire (June 22, 2023). "Congress Spotlights 'Serious' Forced Labor Concerns With Chinese Shopping Sites". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on June 30, 2023. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
  31. Toh, Michelle (July 19, 2023). "Shein and Temu's battle for US bargain shoppers is getting nasty". CNN.
  32. Arcieri, Katie (August 10, 2023). "Shein, Temu Take Fast-Fashion Antitrust Battle to US Courts". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on August 16, 2023.
  33. Field, Matthew (September 10, 2023). "Shein sues Chinese rival in High Court copycat row". The Telegraph.
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