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PDD-owned Temu enters the Philippines to heat up competition in Southeast Asia’s e-commerce market against Alibaba’s Lazada and TikTok Shop
- Temu’s ‘grand opening’ in the Philippines over the weekend offered generous discounts of up to 90 per cent on a range of items
- The Boston-based budget shopping app provider now operates in more than 38 countries
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Tracy Quin Shanghai
Budget shopping app provider Temu, owned by multinational e-commerce group PDD Holdings, has started operations in the Philippines to kick off its expansion into Southeast Asia, where it faces tough head-to-head competition against Alibaba Group Holding unit Lazada, ByteDance’s TikTok Shop and Singapore-based Shopee.
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Temu over the weekend quietly made its “grand opening” in the Philippines, where the Boston-based sibling of Chinese online retailer Pinduoduo offered up to 90 per cent off items such as T-shirts, double-sided tape, and kitchen storage and appliances, according to its website.
The generous discounts form part of a tried-and-tested playbook that has helped Temu climb to the top of Apple’s App Store and Google Play’s free-app rankings when the online marketplace launched in the United States last year.
Temu’s debut in the Philippines underscores its strategic business expansion across Asia after its foray last month into Japan and South Korea, as it now targets the less wealthier economies in the region.
In June, Temu sent out a survey to online merchants asking which platforms they were already using in Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia.
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Temu, which is now available in more than 38 countries, did not immediately reply to a request for comment on Monday.
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