Online superstore Temu expands to Europe after conquering America

By Michelle Toh, CNN

Temu, an online shopping platform that has quickly become the most popular app in the United States, has crossed the Atlantic.

The company is now operating in six European countries, including France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom, according to its website.

Temu is a Boston-based online retailer that was launched last year by PDD, a US-listed company formerly known as Pinduoduo. PDD was previously based in Shanghai but it has recently moved its head office to Dublin, according to the company’s regulatory filings.

Temu runs a marketplace for everything from home goods to apparel to electronics. It has quickly become the most downloaded app in the United States since launching in September, and continues to dominate the country’s app stores, with tens of millions of US users, according to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower.

It’s able to drive down costs, and prices, thanks to a network of more than 11 million suppliers and fulfillment partners built up over the years by its owner, PDD, according to a spokesperson.

The company’s proposition to customers: Feel like you’re splurging by buying lots of stuff cheaply.

In a Super Bowl commercial in February, Temu encouraged consumers to “shop like a billionaire” by taking advantage of its affordable range of items, such as a $6.50 swimsuit or $8.50 pair of earphones.

In recent months, as it gained popularity, it’s also faced questions over a litany of issues, including how it’s able to sell goods at such strikingly low prices, how transparent it is with the public and how much environmental waste its business generate.

Temu is not available in China. But PDD also owns Pinduoduo, a hugely popular Chinese e-commerce giant that was found in a recent CNN investigation to have the ability to spy on its users.

According to cybersecurity researchers, Pinduoduo can circumvent users’ mobile security to see what they’re doing on other apps, read their messages and even change settings.

While Temu has not been implicated, the allegations about its sister company have invited further scrutiny, and were cited in a US Congress report that raised flags about Temu’s rapid success earlier this month. PDD did not respond to CNN’s multiple requests for comment on the investigation.

The additional scrutiny hasn’t stopped the firm from rapidly expanding to new territory.

In February, Temu announced plans to expand to Canada, where it currently operates. It also has a presence in Australia and New Zealand, according to its website. Temu did not respond to a request for comment on its latest expansion.

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