Thought Leadership
“I’m shopping like a millionaire” – with this slogan, Temu has established itself as one of the most popular shopping platforms in just around a year. The concept of selling cheap goods, primarily from Asia, without middlemen is already familiar from the Wish platform, but Temu has combined it with the convenient shopping experience of established stores such as Amazon.
But aren’t the cheap offers from the Far East perhaps too good to be true after all?
SpardaSurfSafe, an initiative of the Education and Social Foundation of Sparda-Bank Baden-Württemberg, gets to the bottom of this question.
Just a few weeks after its launch in Germany, the Chinese shopping platform Temu made it into the app store download charts.
Since then, the portal has developed into one of the most popular shopping providers that could even pose a threat to Amazon.
With a wide range of products, from clothing, toys and technology to furniture and kitchen utensils, and prices that are often in the penny range, Temu is attracting a steadily growing number of customers.
The success of Temu
The principle of purchasing goods at the lowest prices directly from the manufacturer in Asia is nothing new.
The best-known example is probably the Wish app.
However, Wish still charged shipping costs for each individual item at the checkout, which drove up the price.
In addition, delivery times were sometimes extremely long and customs duties were often added at the end.
With Temu, on the other hand, one free shipping package per order arrives within a relatively short, previously specified delivery period and, according to Temu, customs duties are already included in the price.
“This of course makes it much more attractive to order such goods,” explains Götz Schartner from Verein Sicherheit im Internet e.V., one of the co-organizers of SpardaSurfSafe.
However, despite its steadily growing popularity, you shouldn’t simply follow the company’s slogan “Shop like a millionaire”.
This is because consumer and data protection experts warn against some of Temu’s practices.
Quality
First and foremost, the quality of the products supplied repeatedly gives rise to complaints. The materials and workmanship are often inferior and the products break within a very short time. This can quickly become dangerous, especially with electrical appliances, for example if they get too hot at the handles or power cables are not adequately secured. In addition, there are often no operating instructions, and if there are, they are not available in German. Any quality seals such as the “CE” mark, which is mandatory for all items sold in the EU, cannot be relied upon for cheap Chinese imports, as the consumer advice center warns.
Working conditions
Another point of criticism that is often voiced in relation to Temu is the working conditions under which the cheap products are manufactured.
It is suspected that some of the goods on offer are produced under exploitative conditions.
Temu itself is not very transparent as a marketplace and points out that the retailers who use the platform are responsible for this information.
There is also the accusation that Temu is playing into the hands of the unfortunately still widespread throwaway mentality, as the cheap, often low-quality products sooner or later end up in the bin and thus pollute the environment.
The long delivery routes from Asia to Europe are also criticized, as the CO2 emissions of the transport flights used to send the many thousands of orange packages all over the world are immense.
Data protection
Data protectionists also criticize inadequate security measures, the potential misuse of customer data and the many unnecessary permissions required by the Temu app, including access to photos and videos.
Users remain completely in the dark about the extent to which their personal data is collected and the purposes for which it is processed.
Temu has already received several warnings or had to sign cease-and-desist declarations for these questionable practices.
In summary, it can be said that Temu undoubtedly offers an almost limitless selection of products from all possible areas at almost unbeatable prices.
You can often find things here that are not available in other online stores.
Nevertheless, you should always be aware that the quality often does not meet the standards you are used to in this country and that you may not only have spent money for nothing, but may even put yourself in danger by using it – for example because an electrical appliance gets too hot or even catches fire.
And if this risk doesn’t deter you, you should bear in mind that you pay the low prices in the app with your personal data.
(lb/8com)
