The new ecommerce platform can beat Amazon on price by shipping direct from China. It’s already racing up the charts. The prices seem almost too good to be true: Lenovo wireless earbuds for $3.70, an eyebrow pencil for 59 cents, two outdoor solar lamps for $6.39—all delivered for free. Welcome to Temu, which brings the rock-bottom prices and frenetic energy of Chinese ecommerce to US shoppers.
Temu’s website and mobile app launched on September 1, the first US storefront from Chinese ecommerce giant Pinduoduo. Amazon, eBay, and other Western online stores feature plenty of goods from Chinese suppliers. Temu’s bargain prices are an experiment in cutting out the middleman, by allowing Chinese vendors to sell their products directly to US consumers, and shipping directly from China rather than building out a network of US warehouses.
https://www.wired.com/story/how-retail-app-temu-lures-us-shoppers-with-mind-bending-prices/