Temu goes global

The ultra budget ecommerce platform is now available in 10 countries

Image credit: Canva

Temu, PDD Holdings' ultra budget shopping app, has launched in several European countries. Namely: France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and the UK.

The app first launched in the United States in September 2022 and expanded to Canada, Australia, and New Zealand earlier this year. Temu is therefore available in 10 markets.

Boston-based Temu is essentially the international sibling of China’s Pinduoduo. Just like Pinduduo, it sells affordable products that are mostly made in China.

Amid high inflation, the US launch had been quite successful. Temu became America’s most downloaded mobile app in any category between November 1 and December 14, 2022.

You could say the platform is part of a new wave of Chinese e-commerce companies targeting international customers (Shein is often cited as an example of such trend).

But legislators have taken note of those success stories. While Temu and Shein have made attempts to disentangle their operations from their ties to China, geopolitical issues remain.