China’s Temu takes off with Australian bargain shoppers

afr.com:

Discount Chinese marketplace Temu has shot to the number three spot in the Australian e-commerce rankings, unseating better-known homegrown competition Kogan, Catch and MyDeal, just six months after making its debut in this country.

Temu is a bargain lover’s paradise. Known for its tagline “shop like a billionaire” and steep discounts for items from replacement toothbrush heads to kitchenware and sneakers, it has expanded to 47 countries and has 120 million monthly users globally.

In Australia, Temu has had an average of 7.68 million monthly visits, topping the Wesfarmers and Woolworths-owned marketplaces since its launch in March. Both ASX giants are still grappling with their e-commerce assets. The category is dominated by leader Amazon at 50 million average monthly visits over the same period.

According to exclusive data provided to The Australian Financial Review by Similarweb, Temu debuted with significant growth in Australia as it spent up on acquiring customers, but there are indications of a slowdown emerging. In October, the platform had a notable decline in both visits and unique users, which fell 41 per cent and 45 per cent month-on-month respectively.

But shoppers are seeking out more discounts than ever before, placing Temu in good stead to retain customers, and returning users have increased rapidly, helping to reduce its cost per customer acquisition. In May, its percentage of returning users was 32 per cent and that jumped to 75 per cent by October, Similarweb data shows.

Pay-per-click advertising fell over the past few months. That is when the advertiser pays a fee each time one of their ads is clicked, generating a visit. Pay-per-click spending peaked in July at about $21.5 million, Similarweb said, but