Temu is scheduling to open up its marketplace to U.S. and European sellers

NEW YORK (AP) — Temu, the on the web retailer owned by the father or mother of Chinese e-commerce business Pinduoduo, is opening its system to U.S. and European sellers.

A Temu spokesperson on Thursday verified the firm’s options, which was initially reported in Chinese media. The business declined to provide further facts, saying that “many of the business enterprise details are still in the procedure of getting finalized.”

Temu arrived on the U.S. market in 2022 and has received traction by presenting low cost apparel and other items, these kinds of as $9 sweaters and $5 mugs. Its application was the most downloaded cost-free application on Apple equipment past yr, surpassing well-known social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.

At present, the investigation organization Marketplace Pulse estimates Temu has much more than 100,000 retailers primarily based in China that promote goods on its platform. Factories act as merchants and ship their merchandise to Temu warehouses in China, which are then sent immediately to consumers in the U.S. and other international locations.

The organization says the set-up permits it to lower out a number of middlemen and offer you decreased rates. But information shops have also noted accounts of sellers who say they’ve been pressured to slice costs so minimal that its challenging for them to make a profit.

Shipments have drawn scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers nervous to counter China’s economic power and what they perspective as an exploitation of trade loopholes.

In a report released in June, Home Pick out Committee on the Chinese Communist Bash reported Temu – and China’s Shein – are dependable for extra than 30% of deals delivered to the U.S. every day beneath a century-aged trade exception regarded as de minimis. Below the provision, imported offers valued less than $800 let the importer to bypass obligations and acquire less oversight from U.S. customs.

The report also chastised Temu for what it characterised as lax compliance plans, stating there is a “extremely superior hazard that Temu’s source chains are contaminated with compelled labor.” The enterprise claims the allegations are “completely ungrounded.”

Temu has develop into embroiled in bitter legal fights around the past number of months against Shein, which has also attained acceptance between people in latest decades.

In October, the two providers dropped lawsuits they had submitted in opposition to every other more than supply chain preparations and alleged copyright violations. Temu then sued Shein again in December, accusing its e-commerce rival of working with “mafia-style” intimidation of suppliers to suppress the company’s expansion in the U.S.