It’s not necessity; it’s entertainment. A $200k/year marketing manager will buy a $3 Halloween decoration on Temu because the friction is low and the dopamine hit of a “deal” is real. Temu has successfully positioned itself as a guilty pleasure —like TikTok for shopping.
The question is not whether Temu will survive—it will, in some form. The real question is: Temu’s growth depends on relentless user acquisition. Once the US market is saturated (estimated late 2026), the company must either raise prices or find a new addiction mechanism. Either way, the era of the $2 smartwatch is likely temporary. temu.vcom
By 2022, China’s domestic e-commerce market was saturated. PDD saw an opportunity to export its “C2M” (Consumer-to-Manufacturer) model directly to price-sensitive Americans and Europeans. Temu wasn’t built to be profitable initially—it was built to capture market share at any cost. It’s not necessity; it’s entertainment