… And before you start guessing, check this out: the app only just landed in the US market in August!
We’re talking about Temu, a discovery-based shopping app that provides personalized shopping feeds of mostly affordable products.
Maybe you’ve heard of it
Pinduoduo, Temu’s parent company, invests heavily in paid acquisition, aiming to get loads of users quickly so its algorithm-based suggestions kick off as soon as possible.
Thanks to its compelling recommendations page, Temu is able to gather customer data fast.
Guess who swiped this approach and spent $1B on ads to launch in 2018? Yep, TikTok.
What makes Temu so popular?
You know how TikTok shows users content based on their interests? Temu does the same – only with interesting and inspiring products.
And it’s the first major shopping platform in the US to do this.
That’s what makes it different from eBay and Amazon, both of which show suggestions, but are primarily search platforms.
Can’t stop
But Temu brings another innovation to the table – it makes shopping feel like a game.
From earning credits towards branded products by playing games, to creating thematic shopping carts of small, non-essential items you’d want to get in the future…
Effective ways to keep people engaged, no?
Why we care
Temu’s launch came right before the holiday season—probably not a coincidence. In four months, it swallowed 16.5M downloads.
For perspective: that’s 400k more than eBay and “just” 1.2M fewer downloads than Etsy. Wow.
If you’re in e-commerce, it’s a good platform to keep an eye on…