Temu launched in the US only last September but by February it had already risen to the top of Apple’s App Store. And after launching in the UK at the end of April, it has done the same, becoming Britain’s most-downloaded iPhone app over the past month.
More than 7m Britons have installed Temu, according to data compiled by research company Sensor Tower. Globally, it has hit 117m downloads, making it one of the fastest-growing apps of all time. Monthly spending on the site has risen from an estimated $192m in January to $700m in June. Analysts at Tech Buzz China say total spending could hit $10bn this year – a sum it took Amazon 12 years to hit.
The vibrant orange plastic packaging that orders are wrapped in have become an increasingly common sight in delivery vans and on doorsteps. And social media is clogged with influencers posting their “Temu hauls” of imitation AirPods, extra strong magnets and 98p water bottles.
Temu was founded by Colin Huang, who also helped set up Google in China - Qilai
The app is owned by PDD, the Chinese ecommerce company
behind the online shopping giant Pinduoduo. It was founded less than a decade ago by Colin Huang, a 43-year-old serial entrepreneur who helped set up Google in China.
Huang’s $24bn fortune makes him one of China’s richest people, although unlike billionaires such as Alibaba’s Jack Ma, he has largely shunned a public profile.
Huang stepped down as PDD’s chief executive and chairman in the years after its 2018 New York float, saying he wanted to focus on life sciences research, although he remains its biggest shareholder. The company is now run by co-founders Lei Chen and Jiazhen Zhao, while public interactions in the West are largely limited to routine quarterly investor calls.
Temu is able to dramatically undercut its Western rivals by shipping directly from warehouses in China to front doors, cutting out the higher costs of logistics networks in Britain, the US and Europe and taking advantage of its parent company’s close relationships with Chinese suppliers.
It is not the first to try it: Alibaba, Wish.com and the fast fashion seller Shein have all sought to attract Western shoppers by shipping directly from China.
But none have taken off as rapidly as Temu, whose combination of aggressive pricing, free delivery and incessant marketing means it has threatened major online sellers such as Amazon. One ecommerce executive describes Temu’s rise as “scary”.
