Shopping is as chaotic as the app: everything comes in plastic – and even more plastic. picture alliance / ZUMAPRESS.com | Rafael Henrique; Business Insider
The Chinese online shop Temu has pushed itself into the download charts with a flood of marketing. But what good are the products actually?
Business Insider editor Steffen Bosse did the test and bought products from several categories.
Conclusion: I simply found the cheap electronic products to be junk. In my opinion, fashion bargains weren’t much use either. The exception was the sports articles.
With the help of its flood of marketing, the Chinese online retailer Temu has secured itself at the top of the download charts in the app stores in recent weeks. In addition to the discount battle and the whole range of sales tricks, the provider scores with consumers with absurdly low prices. But if Temu is generally a reputable platform – i.e. a provider that actually exists and delivers ordered products – the question arises: What good are the cheap goods actually?
What is Temu?
Temu is an online shop from the Chinese company PDD Holdings, which has also been available in Europe since April 2023. Similar to its competitor Alibaba, Temu is a marketplace. The provider does not sell its own products, but usually has them delivered directly from Chinese manufacturers – one of the reasons for the low prices. In addition, a flood of online marketing and paid product presentations on social media have catapulted the trading platform’s app to number one in the download chart.
There is also criticism of the company. Pinduoduo, the first store of NASDAQ-listed parent company PDD, reportedly contained malware. The product safety of the items can hardly be checked; according to consumer advice centers, many technical items do not have the CE marking. And when shipping is often done individually by plane, sustainability is questionable. You can read what you generally need to know about customs, returns and quality here.
The general answer: It depends. Because you always order from other retailers and manufacturers on the marketplace. Just because a product at Temu was of good quality, another product could fail the quality check. So I did the test for Business Insider and ordered some products.
Delivery at Temu: Not as fast as expected
First conclusion about ordering and delivery: Temu’s efficient logistics and, above all, fast shipping are often reported – sometimes with a delivery time of seven days. In fact, this is the exception. After the order is placed, Temu itself provides a table with data. According to this, only 17.3 percent of orders are delivered within seven days via standard shipping. 80 percent are there within ten days.
Ours was the same: a delivery ended up with a neighbor after seven days. The second took ten days. However, items from multiple orders were automatically merged here – that could have contributed to the extension.
Both came by plane. Certainly difficult from a sustainability perspective – but also in the sense that the two tech products arrived with dents in the packaging.
Smartwatch for five euros, Switch imitation for 32 euros
Cheap tech products were already an entertainment highlight on YouTube with the Chinese shopping app Wish. It seems to be no different with Temu. I ordered a cheap smartwatch and a games console that at first glance looks like a Nintendo Switch due to the color. At second glance, it still looks like a cross between the Switch and Sony’s handheld console PSP.
Portable games console with old arcade classics like King of Fighters and Metal Slug – but you can only use it with a power plug. Business Insider
Of course, none of the products have a CE marking and the device doesn’t have much to do with a switch and a PSP. Instead, a number of old arcade and Gameboy games are pre-installed. Pokemon is not included, but Harry Potter is in Spanish. You should be able to download more according to the instructions. Is that legal? I doubt it.
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In addition, the console felt suspiciously light when taken out. And actually: The device has neither a battery (so it always has to be connected to power) nor the promised camera on the back.
The smartwatch is of similarly high quality. Touchscreen: none. It can’t be turned off either. The pulse measurement is always a mere 20 beats per minute off. When it comes to pedometers, we don’t even need to talk about accuracy. After all, the app is in German – and probably collects data diligently.
On the left the smartwatch from Temu, on the right the comparison with the Apple Watch. With a blood pressure of 99 over 66, my body should have sounded the alarm. Business Insider
Fake Yeezys and cotton polyester socks
The rest of my order was a mixed bag of fashion and sports items. First and foremost: imitations of Yeezy Foam Runners. Price for the original in sand color: between 120 and 150 euros, depending on the online retailer. Price on Temu: 6.39 euros. The appearance is identical to the original. There is no hole in the wrong place – if you only value the appearance, you should be satisfied with this.
I don’t own the original, so I can’t make a direct comparison. However, the fake didn’t move much. Similar to Croqs, I felt like I had my feet stuck in an immobile cast. And the fake Yeezys are not properly rounded at the heels, so you keep slipping into a small hole. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to distinguish them from the original.
Fake Yeezys, almost identical to the original – unfortunately with polyester socks. Business Insider
White sneakers for – comparatively – an impressive 18.23 euros were also included in the delivery. Although ordered in the appropriate EU size, they arrived significantly too small. And the sole seemed too soft and the footbed was unstable. My foot inevitably buckled inward.
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“Temu is Trash”: This is how German influencers and their followers react to the hyped Chinese shopping app
An item that is almost thrown after you on Temu: sneaker socks. Ten pieces for 4.85. Sounds like a great deal, the socks even have “Cotton” printed on them. The product headline says “Cotton Breathable”. However, you would have to look at the detailed description hidden further down in the app to find out: 30 percent cotton, 70 percent polyester. I missed it – consequence: my feet start sweating after just 30 seconds. And itching, which is no different for me when it comes to unwashed items from Primark, H&M and the like.
Unfortunately, where it says cotton, it doesn’t just contain cotton – not even a majority of it. Business Insider
Conclusion: Temu products were mostly junk
Temu, on the other hand, scores points when it comes to sports items: Kinesio tape was half as expensive as on Amazon and the quality was completely fine for my amateur purposes. A set of resistance bands with handles and a hook for the door only cost me twelve euros – and was about the same as any other resistance band I’ve ever held. Including the horrible rubber smell that only goes away after washing your hands three times. However, the hinges withstood the first tests without any problems, and my door also remained undamaged.
Conclusion: The quality of my purchase left something to be desired. Especially when it comes to supposed tech bargains, the following applies: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. In my opinion, what I got was simply junk technology and a waste of resources.
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From Tupac ornaments to Trump toys, I shopped at new Chinese discount store Temu
However, some items were definitely usable – although you shouldn’t expect too much here either. For me, the quality was appropriate for the price and comparable, for example, to non-food discounters such as Tedi or Action. Good and cheap, but of course not high class overall. Since you always order from other retailers at Temu, the selection remains a game of chance.
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