Major Chinese e-commerce platforms Temu, Shein, and TikTok Shop are reshaping the dynamics of Black Friday shopping in Western markets, leveraging aggressive pricing strategies and innovative shopping formats, impacting traditional retailers and consumer behavior at the start of the holiday season.
Why it matters: This year’s Black Friday presents a crucial opportunity for Chinese e-commerce platforms like Temu and Shein as they continue their expansion into European and North American markets. The shopping event, in its last year before Trump’s second term, could see Chinese e-commerce companies make moves to dominate their Western markets by maintaining price-cutting strategies, a last opportunity for such tactics before regulatory pressures increase.
Details:
- Temu and Shein’s aggressive online marketing efforts are driving up costs for other retailers and brands to connect with shoppers on Black Friday, Reuters reported. Both platforms are bidding heavily on search keywords associated with their competitors, and local e-commerce players and retailers have suffered as a result.
- Although Black Friday remains the most popular shopping holiday in the world, Chinese e-commerce platforms offer consumers low prices year-round, allowing consumers to purchase affordable products any day, diminishing the holiday’s significance.
- TikTok has entered the e-commerce space with TikTok Shop, transforming shopping habits by integrating short videos with seamless in-app purchasing options, enabling users to buy products within the app. This shopping style is becoming a trend in Western countries.
- Earlier this year, ByteDance, the company behind TikTok, set high expectations for TikTok Shop’s US operations, aiming to grow its scale tenfold to reach $17.5 billion in 2024.
- After two years, Temu has gained a large share of e-commerce in the United States, and its growth momentum is relatively strong: Temu reported $20 billion in sales in the first half of 2024, already exceeding its total sales for 2023.
- According to Business Insider, US President-elect Donald Trump has spoken extensively about the tariffs he plans to put on Chinese imports once in office, shining a light on companies likely to be affected, such as Shein and Temu.
Context: Compared to last year, online spend increased dramatically, with US consumers spending a record $10.8 billion online, a 10.2% increase from last year, according to Adobe. Salesforce reported even higher totals, estimating $17.5 billion spent in the US and $74.4 billion globally, marking increases of 7% and 5%, respectively. In 2023, Adobe noted $9.8 billion and Salesforce $70.9 billion in global spending.
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