After months of success in the US, Temu has burst onto the scene in Spain and the rest of Europe to become a fierce competitor to Amazon, Miravia and especially AliExpress. Its aggressive pricing strategy and wide offer make it an option that is increasingly popular among influencers.
E-commerce experienced its greatest peak during the months of the pandemic, although during the last quarter of 2022, e-commerce in Spain registered a 16.2% year-on-year increase to reach 19.65 billion euros, very positive figures.
According to data from State of Online Marketplac Adoption, in 2022 consumers made 39% of their online purchases on marketplaces. Meanwhile, 100% of Spanish online shoppers have made purchases in a marketplace in the last year, representing 76% of the Spanish population between 18 and 70 years old.
Now Temu has arrived to further increase sales in the sector. But Temu as such is not a store, it is a marketplace, a store of stores like AliExpress that acts as an intermediary with a very efficient technology. It belongs to PDD Holdings Incorporated, a Chinese conglomerate of companies in which also operates Pinduoduo, one of the largest companies in China and the world specialized in e-commerce, making it Alibaba’s main rival.
Temu implements a business model in which Chinese sellers can directly ship their products to international customers without relying on intermediary distributors in the destination country, thus significantly reducing the cost paid by end buyers. Another very striking aspect is that it offers free products or discounts through affiliate codes.
Its success lies in the wide range of products it offers, with clothing, accessories and complements being its strongest sellers. In addition to its low-price strategy, which only brings long-term benefits to sellers, it has flash offers with considerable discounts. Temu’s sales success lies in offering deep discounts of up to 90%.
In this way, newcomers to Temu can win free prizes. This is in addition to the games of chance that the application itself includes to obtain discounts and coupons that invite the user to buy massively.
Shipping and returns process
Temu is registered in Boston, although the vast majority of the products they market are shipped from China, so delivery times will be similar to AliExpress, between 7 and 15 business days, with 80% of them being established in less than 10 days. It also offers an express shipping option for €7.90.
Temu allows all types of payment methods, from credit or debit card to PayPal, Google Pay or Apple Pay, among other online options. Similarly, it allows you to return any product (except intimate apparel or used clothing) within 90 days of purchase. The refund is obtained immediately in credit for future purchases, although if you want to recover the money it will take several days after they have received the product.
A new competitor to the major operators
As a legitimate and secure application, able to offer a valuable service to all users, it is managing to become a first choice for millions of users. In fact, in 2020 it replaced Alibaba as the leading ecommerce company and currently has more than 730 million monthly active users.
Its goal is not only to unseat AliExpress, but also Shein. In fact, with the fashion firm it has even gone as far as the courts in the US. All this is because they imitated Shein’s ad model on Twitter, but then redirected users to a link to download the Temu mobile app. This led Shein to sue the company for generating misleading Google ads and for initiating a smear campaign against them by signing contracts with certain influencers.
Safety tips for buying on Temu
It is very important to verify the seller, that is to say, to check the ratings and opinions of other buyers to denote the degree of reliability, as well as to always apply secure payment methods that offer some protection to the buyer. Similarly, it is recommended to read the descriptions carefully to know what you are buying.
It is important to know the return policies and the product warranty to know how to proceed in case of not being satisfied. Other aspects to take into account are the shipping costs, which can increase the final purchase price, as well as being alert to offers that are too attractive.
Temu has arrived in Spain to stay as a safe and effective marketplace, able to compete with recognized firms such as AliExpress, although it still has a long way to go in marketing strategy to achieve greater awareness and trust from users and potential customers.