Temu local delivery expands to 16 countries

E-commerce platform “Temu” is expanding its service to deliver products from the area where consumers live. One year after the service was launched, it has covered 16 countries including Japan, the United States and Europe. This move is intended to reduce reliance on the business model of delivering Chinese products to overseas sales in response to the global expansion of tariff reinforcement measures and the trend of countries to protect their local industries.

A lip balm pack costs $4, a T-shirt costs $7, and a children’s board game costs $10. When you open the Temu US mobile app, the dedicated section for local products immediately displays images of affordable products.

The products displayed in this section are all shipped from warehouses in the United States and can be delivered to consumers within 5 days. In the past, it took 1 to 2 weeks to ship from China, but this time has been greatly reduced. Temu also adds a green mark to products in domestic warehouses in the United States to encourage consumers to place orders.

The mechanism adopted for local products is to recruit sellers who have inventory locally. In addition to locally produced products, it also includes categories imported by sellers. The feature is not only the fast delivery speed. Previously, the product categories were mainly low-priced clothing and groceries produced in China, but now they can also sell large furniture and other products that are difficult to transport across borders.

According to Citigroup’s forecast, local products and other products that Temu is not responsible for cross-border delivery account for more than 20% of Temu’s total transaction volume (GMV) in the US market.

This service, called “Local-to-Local”, was launched in the United States in March 2024 and later expanded to the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Mexico. It also began recruiting sellers in Japan at the end of January 2025, and the service has now expanded to 16 countries.

Chen Lei, chairman and co-CEO (CEO) of Temu’s parent company “China Pinduoduo Holdings”, said at the earnings conference held in November 2024 that the competition facing global business is becoming increasingly fierce, and the short-term impact will not shake our determination to continue to explore.

Temu started its cross-border e-commerce business in September 2022, starting with the United States. The business carried out around the world sells clothing and small commodities mainly produced in China at low prices by eliminating intermediaries and other measures. The number of countries and regions in which Temu has entered has reached about 90, almost doubling in the past year.

According to data from the US research company Sensor Tower, in terms of the number of monthly users of global e-commerce apps in December 2024, Temu surpassed its competitor Amazon in the United States. Driven by the awareness of saving in developed countries, the number of users continues to increase.