Concerns about sustainability and competition
Temu gets more than 30 million new downloads every month, according to Statista, making it the number one shopping app in the App Store and Play Store.
Although many people may be tempted by the low prices on Temu, the plethora of goods available, the intuitive advertising based on your Google searches, and the gamification appeal, there are thousands who are strongly against the wildly popular shopping platform.
The two main reasons for this are sustainability – concerns have been raised globally about workforce conditions – and competition, with local retailers saying they are under immense pressure to compete with below-cost prices.
Takealot group chief executive Mamongae
Mahlare says the widespread advertising dumps by Temu have increased the cost of digital customer engagement by more than 200%.
“[This] not only affects digital marketing costs, but also affects small businesses and local entrepreneurs trading on our platforms who also need to be participating in the market.
“For us, it is also more costly,” she says.
With an immense advertising budget (it spent more than $3-billion on advertising last year), Temu has swept markets across the globe.
Its parent company, Pinduoduo (which means “together, more savings), is the third-largest e-commerce player in China, after Alibaba and Jd.com.
Dubbed a “fast fashion” giant, Temu has been slammed in the US for taking advantage of a shipping provision that allows it to circumvent paying tariffs on orders.
The company is also accused of using low-paid factory workers who typically work long hours without an employment contract.