Chinese online shopping mall Temu is reportedly asking product manufacturers to ship the sales volume directly to the United States rather than going through Temu.
It is a desperate measure to avoid tariffs on China imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Bloomberg reported on the 11th (local time), citing unnamed sources, that Temu is pushing for changes in China’s supply chain for goods.
In the past, Temu, a sales platform, has been responsible for everything, including pricing, product delivery, and marketing, but in the future, the seller will adopt a half-custom body that delivers goods directly to the United States.
In this case, Temu will give up much of its control over the Chinese supply chain, and manufacturers will have to take charge of deliveries directly, which is expected to act as a price increase factor.
In particular, it may be difficult to achieve economies of scale from mass deliveries, and small companies with weak shipping fee negotiation power and no logistics support capabilities will give up selling in the U.S. market.
The way sellers are responsible for delivering goods has not yet been mandated, but Temu has reportedly signaled to sellers that it will prioritize companies that accept this approach.
The new method was introduced early last year, and the move to switch to the new method has been accelerating since President Trump took office. Earlier, it was reported that Temu’s rival Xu is also asking product suppliers in China to move their production bases to Vietnam.
Xu Yin is also said to provide incentives such as procurement prices up to 30% higher and guarantees of certain orders to companies that move their production lines.
Recently, the Trump administration has decided to maintain duty-free measures for small products imported from China, but if the duty-free benefits disappear, most products sold in the U.S. by Chinese online retailers such as Temu or Xuyn, who put low-priced products ahead, will be affected.
JULIE KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
