The news: Pinduoduo’s Temu briefly beat out Amazon, Shein, and Walmart to become the top ranked shopping app on the iOS app store last week, per Sensor Tower data.
Temu’s appeal: Like Shein, Temu offers goods at incredibly low prices—although Temu’s offerings go beyond clothing to include electronics, household goods, and toys, among other categories.
A cautionary tale: Temu will have to avoid the ignominious fate of Wish, which has seen a precipitous decline in the number of shoppers and revenues due to issues over counterfeited and poor quality products on its marketplace, as well as long delivery times and arduous returns processes.
While Temu’s ability to tap into Pinduoduo’s manufacturing and logistics capabilities will help it circumvent some of Wish’s problems, it will need to invest significant resources into improving the customer experience—from customer service to order tracking to returns—if it wants to survive in the US.
This article originally appeared in Insider Intelligence's Retail & Ecommerce Briefing—a daily recap of top stories reshaping the retail industry. Subscribe to have more hard-hitting takeaways delivered to your inbox daily.