The Trash and Treasures of Temu

How are these headphones 4.98? And everything else you've wondered about the chaotic new Everything Store.

- NATALIE SO

Maybe you first clocked it during the Super Bowl, when its “Shop Like a Billionaire” jingle aired not once, not twice, but six different times. Maybe the site has been haunting you on Facebook and Instagram with targeted ads for products that are implausibly priced (a six-pack of bras, $16.58) and at times delightfully niche (a silicone nose model for piercing practice, $3.98). Or maybe you went to visit your parents one day only to find their home and garage teeming with cheap gadgets from China that they bought from a fun new app. Temu, which is both an app and a website, launched Stateside in September 2022. As of December 2023, it serves approximately 30 million daily users in the U.S. and was the most downloaded free app of last year. But while Temu may feel like a new kind of retail experience, it’s really just a turbocharged amalgamation of things we’ve seen before: the scale of Amazon and vastness of its merchandise selection, the aggressive advertising of Wish, the treasure hunt of a Ross or Marshalls, and the mobile gamification of commerce à la Candy Crush. And in a time of high inflation—as venture-subsidized start-ups shutter and even dollar-stores prices rise—Temu can feel like the last affordable shopping destination left.

What exactly is it?

At its core, Temu is just a giant marketplace where manufacturers and suppliers— around 80,000 of them, mostly based in China—can showcase their goods and sell them directly to consumers abroad. It’s up to the vendors to list their inventory on Temu’s site, but Temu will manage almost everything else: setting the prices, customer service, dealing with Customs, and handling payments and returns.