Gone are the days when women get all dressed up to go shopping. The post-pandemic mind shift has seen more people embracing online shopping and home delivery of their purchases.
An indication of the growth potential of the e-commerce market is the growing competition among online shopping platforms. The latest kid on the block is Temu, a shopping platform that offers one of the cheapest prices around.
Their prices are even more affordable than some established online markets like Amazon. However, there are quite many concerns about the tradeoffs that make it possible for Temu to offer such ridiculously low prices.
To understand the peculiar challenges that users of Temu might encounter, we must understand their playbook. Temu operates just like Amazon in that the platform also allows third-party vendors to host their products on their platform, of course, after some verification.
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This playbook allows customers access to various products besides Temu’s flagship products. However, it is more pricing that generates Temu’s high traffic. So, this has naturally caused a shift of allegiance, particularly for people searching for a bargain.
However, the perception among the many customers of Temu has raised eyebrows about how the platform can offer such low prices. Some people are speculating that Temu is intentionally shoring up losses with the hope of grabbing.
Another school of thought thinks Temu is quite efficient with cutting operational costs, while others feel they are sourcing their products from the cheapest source possible. The not-so-optimistic look beyond the allure of low prices.
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Thanks to some clandestine investigation, it was revealed that a sister company of Temu, Pinduoduo, was exploiting privacy vulnerabilities of Android devices. In short, investigations found Pinduoduo guilty of illegally harvesting users’ data. Since then, Pinduoduo has been removed from Google Play Store. Naturally, online shoppers also became suspicious of Temu.
Likewise, Temu has been battling with issues of quality assurance. Being a platform that plays host to a ton of private vendors, verification of product quality can be a serious headache. Indeed, some of their customers have made complaints about receiving substandard and fake products from vendors. In this light, it is up to the shopper to devise methods of navigating the maze of product quality in Temu’s cheap have.
Also, customer reviews are a different ball game with Temu. While it may be reliable for established online outlets, it is a stack of cards for Temu. Some customers leave very good reviews, while others have nothing good to say about the platform.
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Likewise, Temu has been touting its legitimacy since the get-go. However, many customers don’t buy it as Better Business Bureau has yet to issue their accreditation stamp to the platform.
With all the red flags that users have pointed out about Temu, some users who are familiar with the platform have a few tips on how to make the most of it. To ascertain quality, only buy products with lots of reviews, with the majority being positive.
Also, purchasing lower-risk products, like inexpensive ones, is the way to go. If you have a bulky purchase to make, go to reliable platforms to avoid disappointment.
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