Temu
Temu is an online marketplace operated by e-commerce company PDD Holdings, which is owned by Colin Huang. It offers heavily discounted consumer goods, mostly shipped to consumers directly from China. By April 2025, the platform had expanded its operations to more than 90 markets.
In March 2024, Temu launched its Local Seller Program in the United States. As of July 2025, the program was operational in the UK, France, Italy, Japan, Mexico, and Australia, among other countries. The program is designed to help local sellers reach more local consumers, bring more locally relevant products to local shoppers, and improve the user experience.
Temu's business model has allowed it to become popular among consumers, but has also drawn concerns over data privacy, forced labor, intellectual property, and the low quality of its marketplace products. The company has been embroiled in legal disputes with Shein, a direct competitor. The rise of Temu is one of Amazon's biggest challenges in years.
On October 17, 2022, Temu emerged as the most-downloaded U.S. shopping app. According to Sensor Tower, it was the most downloaded mobile app in any category in the U.S. between November 1 and December 14, 2022. According to Similarweb, as of September of 2024, it became the second most-visited online shopping site in the world. As of December of the same year, the number of monthly active users of Temu's global smartphone app surpassed that of Amazon. In the year of 2024, it was the most downloaded iPhone app in over 20 countries.
Products
The products on Temu are available in over 600 categories, such as clothing, jewelry, pet supplies, and home and garden, among others. Its products are sold at competitive prices.History
Temu is owned and operated by PDD Holdings, a multinational commerce group registered in the Cayman Islands with Dublin also listed as its principal office address. PDD Holdings also owns Pinduoduo, a popular online commerce platform in China. In the US, Temu is under the ownership of Whaleco, Inc., a subsidiary of PDD Holdings registered in the states of Delaware and Massachusetts.The Temu platform first went live in the United States in September 2022, and ran ads during the February 2023 Super Bowl. In March 2023, Temu launched in Australia and New Zealand. In the following month, Temu launched in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and the UK. Temu eventually expanded into the Latin American market. On January 17, 2024, Temu officially launched in South Africa, the 49th country that Temu had entered since its launch. As of the same month, U.S. MAUs on the app reached more than 51 million.
In February 2024, Temu offered US$15 million in giveaways in multiple Super Bowl ads that several congressmen had asked the CBS network not to run. As a result of the ads, the company saw a spike in searches for their name and traffic, reaching 100 million active users in the U.S., over 130 million app downloads globally, and approximately 420 million monthly website visits, as per Semrush. Research by Sensor Tower estimated that in the last quarter of 2023 Temu users spent an average of 23 minutes a week on the app, compared with 18 minutes on Amazon and 22 minutes on eBay.
As of March 2024, Temu served approximately 30 million daily users in America. By August, the number of users of the Temu app had reached 91% of that of Amazon. As of December of the same year, Temu.com saw nearly 700 million monthly visits.
In 2024, Temu introduced the Local Seller Program, opening its marketplace to local sellers in numerous markets. This program enables sellers in these countries to list their products directly and fulfill domestic orders. Through this program, both small businesses and individual entrepreneurs in America can connect directly with millions of customers.
Temu's appearance at the 2024 Super Bowl garnered significant exposure, which made it a household name for U.S. consumers.
In January 2025, International Post Corporation released the 2024 edition of the IPC Cross-Border E-Commerce Shopper Survey Report, which showed Temu overtaking AliExpress as the second most used e-retailer for cross-border sales in the world.
As of March 2025, Temu was one of the most widely used online shopping websites in America. In May, it entered into a partnership with the International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition. In July, the company joined the International Trademark Association and became a member of the Anti-Counterfeiting Committee of the Association.
Local Seller Program
Temu's Local Seller Program, also known as Local-to-Local Program, enables local sellers to sell and fulfill orders within their own markets. Introduced by the shopping platform in March 2024, it is designed to help local businesses expand their reach to more clients and improve the user experience by enhancing the selection and relevance of local products. In November 2024, the company officially opened its marketplace to all U.S. local sellers.In December 2024, the Asian supermarket chain 99 Ranch Market joined Temu as one of its first pantry staple sellers. Through the Local Seller Program, the retail company reached a wider audience. Temu also collaborated with several local service providers, such as ERP, warehousing, and logistics companies. In April 2025, the company worked with ShipBob to expand access to its marketplace for U.S. sellers. In May, it partnered with ShipStation to streamline its order fulfillment operations and enhance delivery efficiency. In August, it adopted Rithum's solutions to simplify onboarding of U.S. local sellers.
As of October 2025, Temu's Local Seller Program was introduced in more than 30 markets, including the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Switzerland, South Korea, and Japan, among other countries.
Business model
Temu allows China-based vendors to sell and ship directly to customers without having to rely on intermediate distributors in the destination country, making products more affordable. Some sellers have stated that Temu asked them to lower their prices, even to the point of selling items at a loss. Temu offers free goods to some users who successfully refer new users via affiliate codes, social media, and gamification. Temu also uses "family warehouses", fulfillment centers run out of personal residences, often those of overseas Chinese immigrants. Online purchases on Temu can be made using a web browser or through a dedicated mobile app. Temu uses large-scale online advertising campaigns on Facebook and Instagram.Temu requires its sellers to offer their products at prices lower than those found on AliExpress. Items not meeting Temu's minimum sales requirements are removed from the platform.
Competition between Temu and Amazon has led each company to match the other's supply chain strategy in 2024, with Temu onboarding warehouses in the United States to shorten delivery time, sell larger items, and diversify away from de minimis shipping, and Amazon signing up sellers in China to ship products directly to buyers as an alternative to using its existing "Fulfillment By Amazon" warehouses.
In March 2024, Temu initiated its Local Seller Program, enabling local sellers to sell products and fulfill orders within their own regions. As of October 2025, the initiative was available in more than 30 countries.
In September 2024, the Biden administration announced that it would propose a new rule to close the $800 de minimis exception to import duties and institute additional information disclosure requirements. The plan raised concerns that small sellers could be hurt disproportionately compared to larger platforms such as Temu.
In October 2024, Indonesia asked Apple and Google to block Temu from their app stores to protect small businesses in the country. In November 2024, Vietnam stated that Temu had not been authorized to do business in the country and suspended it the following month.
In May 2025, following US President Donald Trump's closure of the US de minimis exception as part of his sweeping tariff policy, Temu said it would stop selling goods from China directly to US customers. US orders would be "handled by locally based sellers, with orders fulfilled from within the country." Chinese products that arrived on U.S. soil prior to May 2 are exempt from the measure.
Criticism
Intellectual property concerns
Sellers on Temu face recurring accusations of infringing upon intellectual property rights. Instances of design theft have also been reported. Such concerns are not unique to Temu and have been observed across large online marketplaces.In parallel, Temu has continued to strengthen its intellectual property protection measures. In September 2023, the company upgraded its complaint handling method by launching a dedicated IP protection portal. This portal is established for rights holders and their authorized representatives to report products allegedly infringing IP rights and to track their cases. In addition, the platform launched the Brand Protection Centre and expanded its IP team.
In April 2024, Temu introduced the Brand Guardian Initiative. By October 2025, more than 1,500 brands had become partners in the program. As of the same month, the platform monitored more than 5,000 brands. The company says over 99% of requests are resolved within three business days.
In May 2025, Temu entered into a MoU with the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition. As part of the collaboration, it joined the IACC's newly established Market Advisory Committee as a founding member. In July, it became a corporate member of the International Trademark Association, and a member of its Anti-Counterfeiting Committee.
In November 2025, Temu jointly released new software with the Greeting Card Association that can batch-identify and remove plagiarized designs from the marketplace. This collaboration is part of the shopping platform's broader IP protection programme.