Temu arrives in Spain and the war of the marketplaces intensifies.

The Spanish eCommerce landscape is getting ready for another competitor, and this affects us all, because it means that we will have one more rival for the public's attention. Although, why not, it could also be an opportunity: as you know, selling on marketplaces has its advantages.

 

Today, we are going to tell you about Temu, the new player, its competition, its positioning and its differential advantages.

Temu is a horizontal marketplace, which, as you know, means that it has multiple categories - unlike vertical ones, which are much more specific. 

 

On this platform you can find fashion, cosmetics, household items, toys, musical instruments... In other words, many of the usual categories on Amazon or AliExpress, not to mention the thousands of independent e-commerce sites that sell these products.

It is true that it may take away some of Amazon's business, but it is such a low-cost platform that it could be located in the same segment as Shein, although with a wider catalog in terms of variety of categories.

 

We could even say that it comes to compete with AliExpress in that positioning of low product quality and price in which dominate, undoubtedly, Chinese manufacturers in the West.

 

Temu is of Chinese origin. At least, the capital used to found it comes from the same group as Pinduoduo. This is true even though they are based in the United States and want to clothe themselves in the halo of American respectability and efficiency. Even so, on their own website they claim to be a company founded in Boston last year.

   

Another important issue: they consider themselves a M2C company or, in other words, Manufacturing to Customer. You are familiar with terms such as B2B or B2C, but we have not  talked about M2C yet. Basically, it consists of selling directly from the producer to the end customer, eliminating links in the distribution chain. This cost saving, in theory, would allow them to be especially competitive in price.

This section of the article is going to be really quick: it could be summarized as "like everyone else".

 

It is surprising that they have made such a strong economic and communication effort -they even aired a spot during the Super Bowl-, and then we do not find anything that catches our attention at all.

 

Temu follows the most basic structure of any marketplace: home, categories with filters, product pages with their add to cart button, their reviews... and little else. So simple that it is simplistic.

Another important aspect is that they are betting a lot on in-app purchasing, which is clearly reflected in the messages on the website.

 

That said: they lack "a lot of love" in terms of user experience. In fact, they have not even translated their website into Spanish or any language other than English.

The Spanish eCommerce market is at an interesting point of maturity. Before the pandemic it already was, but after the pandemic the development has accelerated and the perception of the consumer has changed.

 

This is, in a way, a barrier and an opportunity for new competitors. As we have said, the business opportunity is obvious, but there are also more than consolidated rivals.

  

The truth is that, apart from very low prices, Temu does not give the feeling of providing anything extraordinary or disruptive at any level. If we take as a reference one of the latest newcomers such as Miravia, at least they have focused on a more social and communal user experience.

 

It is also questionable whether Temu will be able to attract national sellers. For local businesses, an additional marketplace may be an option to consider as part of a multichannel strategy, as long as it is competitive.

 

 We can tell you little about this for now: the possibility of selling in Temu from Spain is available, but there is no system implemented as advanced as Amazon Sellers. At the moment, the only thing we can find on their website is an email address to contact their sales team.

 

We understand that it is an aspiring company and that it has room for maneuver (and financial lung), so it is by no means impossible to rule out that it will end up making a niche for itself.