The era of low prices: choose TEMU or Amazon?

In an overseas market survey completed in April 2024, the survey subjects covered four countries, namely the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada, with a total of 4,000 respondents participating, revealing their shopping behaviors and trends on Chinese e-commerce platforms. The results of this survey provide us with valuable insights to help us better understand the acceptance and preference of overseas markets for Chinese e-commerce platforms.

First, from the survey results in the United States, about 70% of Americans have shopped on Chinese e-commerce platforms in the past year, showing the wide acceptance of Chinese e-commerce platforms in the US market. More impressively, 46% of Americans have even shopped on multiple Chinese e-commerce platforms, reflecting their recognition of the diversity and richness of Chinese e-commerce platforms.

In the UK market, although only 4% of respondents said they trusted TEMU as an e-commerce platform, this did not prevent them from shopping on the platform. This may be because consumers not only consider trust when making purchasing decisions, but also weigh other factors such as price, variety and shopping experience.

In Canada, 17% of respondents said they regard TEMU as a major competitor to Amazon. Although this proportion is not high, it also shows that TEMU’s potential and influence in the Canadian market are gradually increasing.

In the Australian market, about 1/7 of the respondents said they shopped on Chinese e-commerce platforms at least once a week. This frequency is quite high, showing that Australian consumers rely on and love Chinese e-commerce platforms.

In addition to these specific shopping behavior data, the survey results also show that the status of Chinese overseas e-commerce platforms is rising. 49% of the respondents said that they had shopped on more than one Chinese e-commerce platform, which once again proves the diversity and attractiveness of Chinese e-commerce platforms.

In terms of specific e-commerce platforms, Chinese markets such as TEMU and SHEIN are becoming the preferred platforms for overseas consumers. For example, 56.5% of consumers have purchased adult clothing on SHEIN, showing the platform’s strong competitiveness in the clothing field. At the same time, TEMU has also gained the favor of consumers in multiple categories such as home furnishings, beauty products, and footwear products.

It is worth noting that although Amazon’s position in the global e-commerce market remains solid, consumers’ acceptance and recognition of TEMU is gradually increasing. Globally, only 6.4% of people said they trust TEMU more than Amazon, but surprisingly, 48% of people have shopped on TEMU at least once in the past year. This shows the importance of other factors such as price, variety and shopping experience in consumers’ purchasing decisions.

In addition, the survey results also revealed differences in the evaluation of Chinese e-commerce platforms by gender. In general, women’s evaluation of these markets is always higher than that of men. This may be because female consumers pay more attention to the selection of categories such as fashion, beauty and household products, which are generally richer and more diverse on Chinese e-commerce platforms. At the same time, female consumers may also pay more attention to factors such as shopping experience and trust, and Chinese e-commerce platforms also perform well in these aspects.

Finally, regarding the question of whether TEMU or Amazon is the future of e-commerce, the survey results show a certain trend. Although Amazon is still one of the largest e-commerce platforms in the world, the rise and rapid development of Chinese e-commerce platforms such as TEMU is changing this situation. On average, 17.5% of respondents worldwide believe that TEMU can replace Amazon as a mainstream e-commerce platform, which shows that TEMU’s potential and influence in the e-commerce field are gradually increasing.

Overall, this overseas market survey provides us with rich information and insights to help us better understand the acceptance and preference of overseas consumers for Chinese e-commerce platforms. In the future, as Chinese e-commerce platforms continue to develop and improve, we have reason to believe that they will play a more important role in the global e-commerce market. At the same time, e-commerce platforms also need to continue to pay attention to consumer demand and market changes, constantly optimize the shopping experience and improve service quality to win the trust and love of more consumers.