Temu, the online bazaar for deeply discounted Chinese products, is encountering resistance in major Southeast Asian economies such as Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia, whose authorities are taking one after another measures to limit its progress. The Chinese platform, the second most popular in the world in number of visits behind Amazon, is currently in the crosshairs of the European Union (EU), which opened an investigation on October 31 for non-compliance with single-party products sold there . Brussels is also studying lifting the tax exemption for products from outside the EU with a value of less than 150 euros.
In the ten-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which is not a customs union but has signed free trade agreements with China, Temu and some of its competitors have Chinese stores such as TikTok Shop (selling products in TikTok through video clips). ) and Shein, the fast fashion site, are accused of offering unfair competition to small local producers. They also undermine the positions of other major Asian e-commerce players, dominated by Indonesian giants Tokopedia and Singaporean giants Shopee and Lazada, three of the six “unicorns” (a company worth more than $1 billion, or $923 million). euros in current prices) of the region in the field of high technologies.
Temu had barely made its debut in Vietnam in early October, with deep discounts and free deliveries, when the platform was ordered to report to authorities and consumers were warned of the proliferation of unregulated products. National regulators have also threatened anti-dumping retaliation.
unfair competition
E-commerce is booming in Vietnam, with monthly sales of almost a billion dollars from the beginning of 2024, led by Shopee, number one in Southeast Asia with a market share of 71% in that country and, otherwise, by the Chinese TikTok Shop and. Lazada, partly owned by China’s Alibaba.
Local producers cited by the local press now complain of suffering unfair competition from their Chinese counterparts. Temu puts consumers in direct contact with factories in China and thus avoids all middlemen in Vietnam. However, the latter registers a trade deficit of more than 45 billion euros with China, which is expected to continue growing in 2024.
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