Monthly active users exceed 8 million! Temu has a big explosion in another country

According to data released by the General Administration of Customs, China's cross-border e-commerce imports and exports reached 2.38 trillion yuan in 2023, an increase of 15.6%, of which exports reached 1.83 trillion yuan, an increase of 19.6%.

According to data from the Korea Customs Service, Chinese cross-border e-commerce platforms accounted for 48.7% of Koreans’ online shopping in 2023, while American platforms accounted for only 27.5%. This data shows the strong momentum of Chinese e-commerce platforms in Korea.

Data recently released by Wiseapp.Retail.Goods , a South Korean mobile app analytics company , also showed that the monthly active users (MAU) of Chinese e-commerce platforms AliExpress and Temu increased by 8% and 42% month-on-month to 8.87 million and 8.29 million respectively last month, ranking second and third only after Coupang, a South Korean local e-commerce platform (MAU exceeded).

However, Coupang’s MAU exceeds 30 million. Following AliExpress and Tem are Korean local platforms 11Street (fourth), Gmarket (fifth) and WeMakePrice (sixth).

AliExpress and Temu are both slowly expanding their presence in the Korean market.

Take Temu as an example. The platform entered South Korea at the end of July last year. By the end of March this year, Temu's monthly active users exceeded 8 million. In February and March this year alone, the platform's MAU soared by nearly 2.5 million. Recently, there was news that in order to accelerate its expansion in South Korea, Temu will establish an office here and set up a fulfillment center. Some industry insiders believe that this move will directly threaten Coupang , Kurly Inc. and SSG.COM.

In addition, like other sites, Temu's online ads can be seen everywhere in Korea. It is reported that Temu's ads will appear at the top when searching for any product on Google in Korea.

It is worth mentioning that JPMorgan Chase expects Temu's global marketing budget to double to US$3 billion this year from last year.

According to industry insiders, Temu may sign a contract with a local agency and place advertisements on Naver, South Korea's largest portal website. In addition, PDD Holdings Inc. has also established an entity company Whaleco Korea LLC in South Korea .

Temu currently only allows domestic e-commerce sellers to sell goods directly to local Korean users, while AliExpress already has local Korean sellers on its platform. Korean consumers can not only buy Chinese products on it, but also local Korean products.

Korean brands listed on AliExpress include LG H&H Co. (formerly LG Household & Health Care), beauty product maker Aekyung Industrial Co., and tissue companies KleanNara Co. and Yuhan-Kimberly Ltd.

Its parent company Alibaba also announced in mid-last month that it will invest approximately US$1.1 billion in South Korea over the next three years and promised Korean consumers unconditional returns and refunds within 90 days.

In fact, the rapid development of Chinese cross-border e-commerce in South Korea is just a microcosm of the global market. Data shows that there are currently more than 100,000 Chinese cross-border entities, and platforms such as AliExpress, SHEIN, and Temu have a large consumer base overseas.

As global consumers become more and more accepting of Chinese products and Chinese brands continue to gain international influence, Chinese cross-border e-commerce platforms are expected to gain greater influence in the global market.

Temu

South Korea

Monthly Activity