It’s been a turbulent year for Temu. Once the darling of U.S. bargain hunters, the e-commerce platform was rocked by Donald Trump’s tariff changes, which effectively ended duty-free small parcel imports. The model that Temu had built its U.S. success on, which involved shipping low-cost goods directly from Chinese factories in tiny packages, suddenly broke. Sales plunged. Shoppers bailed. And rival Shein, long Temu’s closest competitor, kept pressing forward.
Now, Temu wants its comeback.
According to data tracked by Bloomberg, at least two dozen of Temu’s best-selling products saw average price cuts of 18% in early September compared to late April. Some items went even further, slashed by as much as 60%. The company has also stopped charging import fees that, at one point, were so steep they left customers paying more in taxes than for the products themselves.
The shift marks a sharp pivot from just months ago, when Temu quietly pulled back from the U.S. to refocus on Europe and other markets. At the time, American sales were in freefall, down more than 30% in some June weeks and still declining through July and August, according to Bloomberg Second Measure, which analyses card transaction data.
But Shein’s resilience in the same market seems to have forced Temu’s hand. Shein’s U.S. sales bounced back after the tariff exemption ended, even with higher prices. For Temu, retreating completely wasn’t an option, not with the holiday season on the horizon and Shein consolidating its lead.
Behind the scenes, Temu has been leaning hard on merchants. Sellers told Bloomberg News they’ve been urged to cut prices in exchange for better placement on the app. Alerts to restock for the holidays have become more frequent. At the same time, Temu is ramping up its U.S. advertising.
After dwindling to just a few dozen new ads most days in the second quarter, daily ad numbers have spiked into the thousands, although they are still well below the pre-tariff frenzy, when Temu pushed out more than 20,000 ads a day. Yet growth remains elusive. Several Chinese merchants report that sales on Temu are still sliding, with one citing a 20% drop in recent weeks. For those who sell across multiple platforms, Temu has now become their weakest U.S. channel.
That stands in stark contrast to Shein, which, while slowing, continues to hold onto U.S. shoppers. Meanwhile, Jumia, Africa’s homegrown e-commerce player, is learning to coexist with both Chinese giants. We reported earlier that Jumia is striking partnerships with Chinese sellers, creating its own niche by offering localised services that Temu and Shein can’t.
For Temu, the road back won’t be easy. Building logistics networks from cross-border shipments to last-mile delivery in the U.S. takes time and capital. Convincing sellers to stick around after months of turbulence won’t happen overnight. And winning back consumers burned by surprise import fees requires more than just discounts.
Still, the fight is on. The question now is whether Temu’s aggressive price cuts will be enough to reclaim its share, or if Shein’s head start has already set the tone for who wins the U.S. fast-fashion battlefield.
