Temu, who is in the "hurricane", has new moves recently

Recently, Temu has new developments.

Temu, known as one of the "Four Little Dragons Going Global", has been frequently reported recently. From Europe, North America, Africa to Oceania, Temu's global expansion is still continuing.

In fact, Temu's global strategic layout is not too early in terms of time, and even lags behind some established e-commerce platforms that have been deeply engaged in cross-border business for many years. In just over two years since its launch in September 2022, Temu's business territory has covered more than 80 countries and regions around the world, and in August this year, its global user base has reached 91% of Amazon's, which makes people have to sigh at Temu's speed.

Temu continues to expand globally

In Europe, Temu is most active in the UK. For example, it actively recruits local sellers in the UK, expands the scale of suppliers in the UK, and plans to set up an office in London .

Currently, most of the products on Temu come from Chinese sellers, and the transportation and delivery of the products take a certain amount of time and are costly. Temu is actively recruiting new British sellers and has also launched a "localization" plan.

Consumers can purchase goods from local British sellers, which not only greatly improves delivery efficiency, but also enhances consumers' shopping experience. Goods that used to take one to two weeks to receive can now be delivered in one to two days.

Temu also plans to recruit local employees in the UK and set up an office in London. This strategic layout will provide better services to customers and thus have stronger market competitiveness.

In the United States, Temu announced that it is open to registration for all US sellers.

Specifically, all US brands or individual sellers can register and sell on Temu, and the process is simple and convenient, and the application approval can usually be completed within one working day. Compared with the previous situation where only those with exclusive invitation codes could join, this is of great significance for Temu to expand its US market.

As we all know, Temu has a large user base and market share in the US market. Its multiple Super Bowl commercials have also made Temu famous in the US.

In addition, Temu will also reduce the hairdressing and shipping fees , which will benefit sellers.

First, merchants can directly enjoy the reduced freight rates of logistics providers , which will also reduce the logistics and transportation costs of merchants and gain more profits;

Secondly, the semi-managed sales and review sharing function is expected to be launched after Black Friday. Merchants can copy products from the US site, create new hairdressing products, and retain the sales and reviews of the original products, so as to help new products quickly start sales;

Again, Meifajia has added a return channel to Canada, and white-listed merchants can return products directly to Canadian cooperative warehouses for continued sales. This move improves inventory liquidity and reduces after-sales costs resulting from returns.

Temu's global layout, on the one hand, expands its business territory, and on the other hand will also bring certain changes to the global e-commerce market landscape.

With the addition of Temu, will the e-commerce markets in many regions see a major reshuffle?

Temu's cooperation with local suppliers in the UK is an important strategy for it to develop the UK market and expand its competitive advantage , but this will also impact local retailers in the UK. With the launch of the "localization" plan, the UK retail market may face a new round of reshuffle in the future.

Secondly, in Africa, Temu has made another breakthrough. After South Africa, Temu has landed in Nigeria, the country with the largest population in Africa.

Temu opened its South African site in January this year. Previous data showed that Temu has become the third largest online shopping platform in South Africa, second only to local platform Takealot and fast fashion giant SHEIN.

As one of the largest economies in Africa, Nigeria 's e-commerce market has also shown a sustained growth trend in recent years . Entering the Nigerian market now also marks a new stage in Temu's expansion in Africa.

Temu's layout may have an impact on local e-commerce platforms in Africa, especially Jumia. It is reported that Jumia, as the leader of African e-commerce, is currently in a state of stagnation.

Specifically, Jumia's revenue in the third quarter of 2024 fell 13% from the same period last year, and its customer base has barely grown since 2023, a situation that could be exacerbated by Temu's entry.

In Australia, Temu's market share surpassed eBay for the first time , which immediately attracted a lot of attention.

eBay Australia was established in 1999, and gradually expanded its market share in Australia, eventually taking a leading position in the Australian e-commerce sector. Today, eBay's services have expanded to many Oceania countries and regions including Australia and New Zealand, and it can be said to be one of the most popular e-commerce platforms in Australia.

Since entering the Australian market in March last year , Temu has quickly accumulated a large number of users in the Australian e-commerce field by virtue of its low prices and rich product selection.

This is also the first time that Temu has surpassed eBay in terms of total market share among pure online retailers . In detail, in October this year, Temu's market share in this category jumped to 20%, while eBay's was 17%.

This rapid growth not only poses a challenge to eBay, but also puts pressure on local e-commerce platforms such as Catch and Kogan. The Australian e-commerce market landscape may be reshuffled in the future.

With the slowdown in growth, Temu faces more challenges

In the global e-commerce field , Temu's performance has also continued to hit new highs . Data shows that as of September this year, Temu.com's average monthly visits have reached nearly 700 million times, surpassing eBay and following Amazon, becoming the second most visited platform among global e-commerce websites.

Although its performance has been booming, Pinduoduo's latest quarterly report shows that its transaction service revenue, including Temu, was 50 billion yuan. Compared with the previous quarter, the growth rate dropped from 234% to 72%, and was 3 billion yuan lower than market expectations .

And its growth rate slowed down significantly in the third quarter of this year. According to 36Kr Future Consumption Report , Temu's gross merchandise volume ( GMV) in the third quarter of this year was around 13-14 billion US dollars, a month-on-month growth rate that was about 15% lower than the 50% in the previous quarter.

What is certain is that although Temu's expansion has not stopped , with the increasingly fierce market competition and the complex external market environment, Temu will face more challenges in the future. Intensified market competition, tightened regulatory compliance, and product quality issues are some of the practical challenges Temu is facing.

Temu's quality issues have always been criticized. Temu mainly sells low-priced goods, but its product quality control is insufficient, especially in the field of high-value goods such as home appliances and digital products. In order to maintain long-term competitiveness in the global market, improving product quality standards cannot be ignored.

At present, under the background of intensified competition in the global e-commerce market, Temu will also face counterattacks and challenges from strong competitors such as Amazon. It is worth paying attention to whether Temu can continue to maintain its market competitiveness.

Temu

Globalization