Temu Watch #6: Revelations at the end of 2024
An extra report on Temu with some rather explosive new insights …
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Introduction
Since the end of 2022, Tech Buzz China has published nine reports on Temu. When reports became more frequent, we started the Temu Watch series. We planned to update you every quarter with one or more publications in consecutive weeks.
As the developments around Temu accelerate, the frequency and quality of the source material that becomes available to us through our partner, Six Degrees Intelligence, also increases. In the past few weeks, we have gained access to expert interviews that have revealed fascinating, maybe even explosive, new details about Temu’s operation.
Instead of postponing the publication of this information until the next Temu Watch, which we would typically have planned in February 2025, we have decided to publish an extra report on top of our regular two-week publication schedule as a ‘belated Christmas gift’ for our paid subscribers.
This report will share some stunning GMV targets that Temu has set itself (including for third-party platform business), an update on the progress of the semi-managed model, and information on how Temu is now even adjusting its original fully managed model. It will also give insights into how it plans to deal with potential US tariffs under the new Trump administration.
After having written about Temu for 2 years, I thought I’d seen it all. Still, some of this report’s revelations even left me speechless and showed the incredible agility of the Pinduoduo company. I was recently interviewed for a German business publication, and the journalist concluded that Temu’s best days might be behind it. This was based on old, incomplete data, and I think the details in this report show that the exact opposite might be true. Dismissing and underestimating Temu should be done at one’s own risk.
This report is only available to our paid subscribers. We appreciate your support over the years, which has helped us continue our work.
On behalf of the Tech Buzz China team, have a lovely New Year’s Eve and a happy and healthy 2025!
Cheers,
Ed Sander – Research Editor
