How to shop online through Temu and what to watch out for when purchasing?
Online shopping brings undeniable advantages compared to shopping in brick-and-mortar stores. This is also the reason why new opportunities for purchasing over the internet for customers, and on the other hand, platforms to sell goods, are constantly emerging. Examples and the current hit are applications and online marketplaces (marketplaces). Have you also caught Temu and his orange efforts to get under your skin? If you haven't tried their shopping cart yet, read on. We have several valuable pieces of information for you:
What is Temu?
Temu is an online marketplace that brings the possibility of online shopping to end consumers in Slovakia as well. The operator is a company from China named PDD Holdings, which, among other things, also covers the Chinese e-shop Pinduoduo. The reason why Temu has resonated in the minds (and mobiles) across the world are the exceptionally cheap purchases. In this online marketplace, you can find electronics, consumer goods, clothing, and many other products from various sellers. Temu can be compared to a market where you get really anything for an incomparably low price.
And precisely attractive prices and massive advertising promotion have caused various opinions on whether online shopping within Temu is safe and whether it is even possible to sell goods at significantly low prices in the long term, which local (and global) sellers or even manufacturers cannot compete with.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of shopping on Temu?
According to statistics, retail sales within e-commerce will reach the threshold of 6.3 trillion US dollars on a global scale by 2024. And the trend is, of course, rising. This is a clear signal that online shopping, whether through a website or an app, will be widely used by customers. Why has shopping through Temu become such a hit and on the other hand raises concerns for some?
Cheap purchases are the biggest attraction in Temu
Certainly, the suspiciously low prices for goods that Temu offers have surprised you in social network advertising. After foreign e-shops like Aliexpress, Alibaba, Shein, and similar, consumers in Europe are used to online shopping, which is more cost-effective. However, Temu goes even lower. And it justifies the advantageous prices of products by responding directly to market demand and offering only what customers themselves require (which allegedly reduces costs for storage and logistics).
A variety of products and one shopping cart
The advantage of an online marketplace is that you can buy a swimming cap, a television, and even a dish drainer in one place. One registration, one account (login), one payment, one shopping cart and no tedious clicking through e-shops and filling out registration forms or going through a complicated shopping process.
Free shipping and the possibility of returning goods up to 90 days
When shopping online, sometimes the cost of shipping is a factor that decides whether a customer completes an order or not. Temu currently has (April 2024) free shipping in Slovakia. This means that you only pay the value of the order that accumulates in your shopping cart. And that's not all. For returning goods you have, unlike the 14 days you are used to with online shopping with us, even a full 3 months.
Not very realistic product photos
Those who have already used shopping in one of the mentioned Chinese e-shops know that the product in the styled photo may not correspond to reality. Therefore, it is better to follow photos from reviews uploaded by customers. However, in the case of Temu, a large number of positive reviews can also be a reason for doubts.
Clothing sizes may not fit
It is no secret that the inhabitants of the Asian continent are shorter than Europeans. Therefore, it is better to check its dimensions before putting clothing or footwear into the shopping cart, rather than relying on the classic European numbering.
The quality of products does not comply with European standards
While goods that you usually buy from an e-shop with us must meet safety standards and EU legal regulations, with a sweater, pots, or watches from Temu, you do not have such protection guaranteed. In addition to the lower quality of goods, which is often disposable, it also concerns harmful components that you may come into contact with a specific product.
Ethical dimension: Cheap purchases, cheap production, cheap labor
You have certainly heard about the controversial working conditions in factories where goods for e-shops like Temu are produced. Cheap labor and poor-quality material may be the reason why a mobile phone on Temu is ten times cheaper than from a branded authorized dealer. Moreover, if you look at the market and its mechanisms in a broader perspective, supporting cheap purchases from China means turning your back on local, Slovak sellers and the economy, which will not be capable of production without purchasing power.
How does shopping on Temu work?
Another great advantage that we have not yet mentioned is the interface for online shopping in Slovak. To make your first online purchase, you need to download the app to your mobile or if you use a computer for shopping online, go directly to www.temu.sk . Simple and understandable registration with the required information will provide you with your own account, within which you can immediately shop.
You can use the navigation in the menu or the search field to search for products and then choose from the offer of several sellers. Once you fill your shopping cart according to your needs, follows payment, consent to data processing, and the order is successfully behind you.
What delivery options does the Temu e-shop offer?
As part of the order, of course, you choose the option of shipping or delivery of products. According to the delivery information, it takes between 5 – 14 days, depending on various factors. For standard shipping, within the mentioned time intervals, Temu currently charges nothing. According to the sent tracking number, you can also track your package.
What payment methods are available on Temu?
You can pay for your order in Temu with various types of cards, use a payment gateway, or a gift voucher. According to the information presented by Temu on its pages, they use PCI DSS standards, strong encryption to protect card payment data, and also regular checks of the entire system.
UIČKOVSKÝ TIP: PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) are international security standards with 12 points that impose conditions for the safe use and protection of data from payment cards.
What to watch out for when shopping on Temu?
According to available data, the founder of PDD ranks third in the list of the richest Chinese. Suspiciously low prices, not the best quality of some products, and also speculations about production that points to cheap labor, however, raise suspicion and conspiracy theories about who is actually behind the online marketplace and what its goal is.
If you compare all the above-mentioned advantages and disadvantages from the customer's point of view, do not forget about another very important dimension, which is data handling. Although the creators of Temu declare that they have minimized the amount of personal data they collect about customers, it is still not very transparent how they handle them. The only thing that can be deduced from the Privacy Policy directly on the Temu pages is that they store this data on servers in EU countries. However, such valuable data may be passed on to third parties for the purpose of interest-oriented advertising and the like.
According to more critical sources, however, Chinese e-shops and the Chinese government are closely connected, and therefore the data can be misused in other ways, such as that you will be followed by advertising for socks with Marilyn Monroe even to the toilet. An example of not very transparent practices is requiring access to data such as photos, location, camera recording, audio speaker or even in some cases the core of the device's operating system in which you shop. Therefore, it is appropriate to consider installing such an application on your smartphone and think about whether cheaper products will not ultimately bring you more problems than benefits.
How do specialists view Temu and online shopping?
Temu with its extensive advertising has literally flooded the media space. Not only in the form of advertising on social networks but also directly in Google Shopping searches, where with its extra low prices it competes with e-shops at the top. In addition, the orange giant has carved out its piece of the advertising pie with a short video spot called “Shop like a Billionaire” during the Super Bowl at an estimated value of around 7 million dollars.
Total advertising costs for Temu, just in the Meta space, in 2023 amounted to more than 2 trillion dollars, which gave the impression of an unsustainable business model. However, with the goal of achieving as many downloads in the app as possible, these costs will gradually decrease, since the orange in the mobile will remind of its presence through notifications directly in it.
All this belongs to the reasons why Temu has stirred passions not only among customers but also among marketing experts, who closely monitor the development around the Chinese online marketplace and their own increasing advertising costs by tens of percent. However, that is far from all. It was only recently reported that Temu plans to let European sellers into its space as well.
Would you also like to evaluate the potential of comparators or verified online marketplaces within your business? Contact us, we will find the most suitable solution for your expansion at home or abroad. We are a one-stop-shop agency, you will find everything for your e-commerce business under one roof.
