Temu, the emerging Chinese e-commerce platform | Its number of users and user persona comparing with SHEIN

Temu is an e-commerce service operated by Chinese company Pinduoduo Inc.
Using the “Trend Analysis” function on “Dockpit,” a tool that can analyze consumers' online behavior, we found that it was ranked no. 1 for websites that have been trending for six consecutive months, and it appears that it is truly taking over the market with unprecedented force.

The concept is “Shop Like a Billionaire,” and it can be used both on the website and in the app.

According to its official website,

・Free shipping on all orders
・Free returns within 90 days
・Delivery time: 5-20 days

In fact, for being an overseas e-commerce service, it seems that the delivery of the products is very quick in many cases.

What makes Temu unique is its pricing.
When you open the "Best Sellers" page, you will find handheld cleaners and blenders on sale for around JPY 1,000 (as of December 14, 2023).

Even on X (formerly Twitter), you can see posts describing Temu as “inexpensive” and “fast.”

On the other hand, there are also opinions that “It makes me worry because it is so inexpensive.”

Temu's strength also seems to be its wide selection of products.
If you look at the product categories on the official website, you will see that there are a variety of products listed as shown below.

Now, let's take a closer look at the actual usage surrounding Temu.

Looking at the changes in the number of users based on the sum of visitors to the official website and users of the official app, the number of users has been increasing since the service was made available in Japan starting July 2023 and has reached 24.6 million in November of the same year.

In particular, in August 2023, when recognition rapidly increased, Temu actively placed display advertisements, and the number of visitors to the website from organic searches increased, perhaps because users who saw the service in the advertisements became curious, prompting a search.

Next, we will clarify Temu's user persona by comparing it with that of “SHEIN,” which also gained explosive recognition by selling its “super low-priced” brand.
In addition, MANAMINA has previously published articles regarding SHEIN, so please take a look at it for reference.

First, let's look at the ratio of male and female users.
SHEIN has a high female ratio of approximately 70%, while Temu’s users are approximately half male and half female, indicating that it is used evenly by men and women.

Looking at the age group ratio, SHEIN has a higher proportion of users in their 20s and 30s compared to the overall Internet users, while Temu has a higher proportion of users in their 50s and 60s.

This shows that although Temu is a new service, not all young people, who are known to like new things and be innovators, are using it. SHEIN is often used by young women who want to try out various cosmetics, fashion items, and stylish miscellaneous goods at low prices, but Temu may have a different target customer. We will dig deeper into the user interests later in this article.

Looking at each user's marital status and whether they have children or not, it can be seen that Temu has a slightly higher percentage of married users and a higher percentage of users with children compared to SHEIN, perhaps because the age group among users is older.

On the other hand, there is no big difference in the annual household income among users, with both Temu and SHEIN having a large number of its users earning less than 4 million yen. Due to its "super low-priced" characteristics, users with lower disposable income who are mindful about saving may have the highest interest.

Next, let's further analyze both Temu and SHEIN users to better understand them.
We will use VALUES’ analytics tool “story bank” (Japanese only), which uses online behavioral data and survey data to aggregate the movements and attributes of target users before and after a specific online behavior.

First, we aggregated the topics SHEIN users are interested in on a daily basis. As you can see from the image above, there is particularly high interest in topics such as fashion, cosmetics, and hair care / hair salons. The interior decor, accessories, and diet products also seem to have a high affinity with users.

On the other hand, Temu users’ interest in “computers” is particularly and obviously high. In addition, digital devices, healthcare products, gardening supplies, car supplies, etc. may start to become product categories that will be easier to find on e-commerce.

Lastly, let's take a look at which pages are actually viewed the most on Temu's website.

At the top of the list of popular content are pages such as the top page, coupons, terms of use, privacy policy, and the support center. Many users may be concerned and skeptical since it is an e-commerce service that originates from overseas and the fact that it is almost unbelievably cheap.

Product pages rank from 30th place onwards. Products include computer cases, air fryers (cooking appliances that allow you to fry foods without using oil), bags, glass rinsers, portable air conditioners, sponge holders, mini dollhouse kits, portable massage machines, car battery chargers, alarm clocks, and waterproof jackets. Categories such as home appliances and household goods seem to be popular.

A glass rinser is a product in the image below which allows you to easily clean glasses, mugs, water bottles, etc.

This may be because people want to try out home appliances for a lower price on Temu that would otherwise be expensive to purchase elsewhere.

What do you think of the user analysis comparing Temu and SHEIN users?
Although both are China's e-commerce websites that sell products at extremely low prices, it appears that their users are quite different.

In the case of SHEIN, it seems that “SHEIN Haul” videos posted on YouTube has greatly contributed to spreading awareness regarding its service, but Temu may gain even more popularity and recognition in the future. Already, there are creators that are highly sensitive to information who are sharing “I tried shopping at Temu” videos, and this video has become popular content with 1.06 million views (as of December 14, 2023).

There are influencers who try it out early on and give honest reviews to address concerns among people who are “worried that it is too cheap and it might not actually arrive” or wondering if it “is safe to use since it is a service from overseas.” Therefore, the number of consumers who will be encouraged to use the service may increase in the future.

Will the number of Temu users continue to increase in the future? And will user personas change as usage spreads to the majority?
We will continue to follow Temu and its business.

▼Data from Dockpit was used in this case study. Dockpit is an online behavior analytics tool provided by VALUES, Inc., and it allows you to access online behavioral data (updated monthly) via your browser so you can research competitor websites and investigate trends. There is a FREE version of Dockpit, so if you are interested in using it, please register below.