Temu, a new Chinese e-commerce site that is both successful and troubling

If you often play on your phone, you must have seen this site’s ads flooding the market. Magic hair ties, refrigerator storage boxes, a revolutionary sieve for washing and drying fruits and vegetables… All of these can be found on Temu, the latest trendy Chinese e-commerce site, behind many well-known platforms such as Desire or AliExpress.

Behind this new e-commerce giant is a site operated in China and registered in Ireland and the Cayman Islands on behalf of PDD Holdings, which is valued on the stock market at $92 billion, and owner of e-commerce website Pinduoduo. – Very popular trade in China.

From AppStore to SuperBowl in just six months

Launched in September in the US, Temu quickly established itself as one of the market leaders. Clothing and jewelry are on sale, as well as storage accessories, kitchen equipment and even musical instruments. As Time points out, the question is rather “what doesn’t sell Temu?” in this huge online trading cluster.

His faith? “Up to 90% off”, promo codes galore, and free products sent to customers if they promote the brand on social media or their loved ones. And it works: in less than three months, the app is in the top downloads in the US.

Building on its success across the Atlantic, the brand even has the luxury of advertising during the Super Bowl halftime. Spot price: $7 million in 30 seconds and the catchy slogan “Buy Like a Billionaire”. In French, “buy like a billionaire,” thanks to the site’s very competitive prices, she puts forward.

This was followed by launches in Canada, Australia and New Zealand before the app appeared in the European Union in March: the UK, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Germany and… France are the six main countries concerned. Again, the success is total, Temu is currently at the top of downloads on Android and iOS in France.

Malware and Prohibition in Montana

But the emergence of the platform in the European market is not without criticism. In addition to price cuts, several customers have reported undelivered packages, extra charges, XXL delivery times, erroneous orders, or even serving absent subscribers, Time magazine notes.

Its Chinese counterpart, Pinduoduo, also failed, with the platform being removed from the Android and iOS app stores in the spring after versions of the app contained malware. Pinduoduo’s requests include access to biometric data, Bluetooth, or even information from wi-fi networks, CNBC clarifies. Which raises concerns about the reliability and security of user data on the Temu side.

In the U.S. state of Montana, concerns have turned into a ban: Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte has banned the app from all government employees’ devices since May 17, along with other Chinese apps like TikTok or WeChat, as well as Russia’s Telegram.

This ban will be expanded in the coming months to prevent these apps from being downloaded across the state.