Americans can’t stop spending money on Chinese shopping app Temu thanks to low prices, free shipping
And it seems that American consumers can’t get enough of the stuff that Temu is selling. A 65-year-old Californian named Silva told AFP, “I’ve seen so many things in their catalog… offered on Amazon and other online retailers for much more.” She has gone on to place 20 orders through the app buying jewelry, craft supplies, and gifts.
Helping to promote the app, Temu ran expensive ads during this year’s Super Bowl game. The commercials, viewed by 100 million people, told Americans that through the Temu app they can “shop like a billionaire.” The ads helped as the app has been installed over 33 million times in the U.S. since its launch. The company has a U.S. office located near Boston although most of its products are sourced and shipped from China.
One concern is that the app is collecting huge amounts of personal data from U.S. consumers. However, a research paper written by Georgia Institute of Technology professor Milton Mueller, using Chinese short-form video app TikTok as an example, stated that “data collected by TikTok can only be of espionage value if it comes from users who are intimately connected to national security functions and use the app in ways that expose sensitive information.”