Many French people are addicted to Shein, this Chinese site which offers ultra-“fast fashion” at unbeatable prices. They are discovering and adopting Temu, its generalist counterpart. There is a multitude of accessories dedicated to the home or to beauty, from the tool for slicing tomatoes (1.28 euros) to the toothpaste squeezer (59 cents) via the mini electric blender (5, 41 euro). And also sandals at 6.28 euros or a pair of socks at 47 cents. If not all essential, the products sold on Temu are just as unbeatable, in terms of price, as Shein’s dresses at 6 euros.
This site, born in 2022, only set up in France last spring, but the success is already there. Temu has been the most downloaded application there since the beginning of the year according to data from Sensor Tower, ahead of WhatsApp and TikTok. The e-merchant attracted 511,000 unique visitors per month in April, and already 9.5 million in June, according to Médiamétrie. It is the equivalent of Airbnb and only slightly less than SNCF Connect. Shein and AliExpress, Temu’s controversial compatriots, still rank ahead of the youngest. They respectively reach the 11th and 9th places of the most visited e-commerce sites in France, this ranking being dominated by Amazon. But Temu could quickly catch up with them.
“The success of Temu is easily explained, analyzes Jacques Penhirin, partner at Oliver Wyman. Its marketing is effective, its offer very inexpensive and its service up to par. Word of mouth does the rest. You also have to remember that 9 million visitors is barely a district of Shenzhen!”
Temu was born in China into an already crowded e-commerce market. The site has developed by attracting suppliers who are too small or not sufficiently equipped to be referenced by AliExpress. “Temu buys very large quantities of products from them, thus obtaining very low prices, explains Jacques Penhirin. It provides them with a whole range of services to enable them to reach consumers abroad”, where the growth prospects are greater than in China.
Like Shein, Temu’s strategy is to create consumer demand by harpooning them on social media through aggressive marketing. The e-merchant buys in quantity from its suppliers the products promoted to Internet users, before shipping them from China by boat or plane. They generally reach their French buyer within a week, delivery being almost free of charge. Temu is not yet profitable, but its parent company, Pinduoduo, can wait. The Chinese e-commerce giant has raised considerable funds in recent years, and still has substantial financial reserves.
In France as in the United States, where the Temu application is also among the most downloaded, the Chinese offer comes at the right time. Temu’s motto – “buy like a billionaire” – resonates with inflation-stricken consumers. In France, the e-retailer competes with physical discount stores such as Action or Centrakor, much more than Amazon, which does not have a mainly discount offer.
Does that of Temu meet the requirements of the General Directorate for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention (DGCCRF)? Wish, a Californian player that offers a large number of low-cost products made in China on the internet, was temporarily delisted from search engines in November 2021. 90% of the electrical products checked had been found to be dangerous, as well as 45% toys.
“Given the economic model of Temu, we are also monitoring it closely, we explain to the cabinet of Olivia Grégoire. He is being checked as part of an ongoing investigation into “fast fashion”, which also affects Shein. We also follow the reports reported on the Signal Conso site, but to date, there are few. The survey on “fast fashion” seeks to verify that the products are safe, and that the commercial offers are not misleading. When Temu promises 80% off, is the discount real? The conclusions of this investigation into the DGCCRF will be released in the fall.