Addictive cheap and controversial: the rise of China's Temu app

theguardian.com

3 pointsedward3 comments

I've ordered several things off temu. You get what you pay for. Meaning: don't expect quality. It's fine for stuff like necklaces, wristbands and small things like like certain crafting supplies. But I would not dare to order tools of any kind. Nothing you'd expect to last at all.

Yeah, it looks like mostly cheap junk. But do they have an infinite advertising budget? I've been seeing tons of their ads for months.

Not infinite, but it seems quite large. Per the article:

> There is a reason the app suddenly seems so ubiquitous online. Recent market analysis found Temu is investing nearly US$500m every quarter into marketing and promotions.

> “That’s $2bn a year to power all the social media ads, display banners, and paid searches, all geared towards aggressively expanding its customer base,” says Yang.

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