Just after seven months of its launch in the U.S., Temu – a budget shopping app has entered the European market. It now operates in Italy, France, Germany, Spain, the UK and the Netherlands. This comes after the platform stepped into Canada, Australia and New Zealand earlier this year.
Temu, Pinduoduo’s (PDD) international sibling, has landed itself in the fierce e-commerce battle with big names like Amazon, eBay, and Home Depot among others. The platform runs a marketplace for everything from home goods to apparel to electronics. Temu launched in the U.S. in September 2022 and quickly became the most downloaded app. It added 19 million downloads for the first quarter of the year, bringing its total to 33 million since its launch.
According to Sensor Tower data, Shein, the Chinese-founded fast fashion retailer, and Boston-based Temu had 23 million and 17 million monthly active users, respectively, by the end of the first quarter. Liu Jun, the vice president of Finance at Nasdaq-listed PDD, said during last month’s conference call that Temu’s fourth-quarter financial impact was relatively small given that it had just been launched. He shared the company wants to build its own unique value. Liu believes financial metrics are just a reflection of the value they can generate.
Temu is able to drive down costs, and prices thanks to its network of more than 11 million suppliers and fulfillment partners built up over the years by its owner. The platform also leveraged the Super Bowl commercial in February. Temu encouraged consumers to “shop like a billionaire” by taking advantage of its affordable range of items. Moreover, the platform has gained popularity as it sells goods at strikingly low prices and its transparency with the public
