What do they say Temu’s first reviews, Chinese ecommerce arrived in Italy a few weeks ago? Can it be trusted? The first comments seem rather mixed, with users praising the very low prices and others complaining about poor quality and slow deliveries. Where is the truth? Let’s try to understand it among the online reviews and analyzes of this new phenomenon of online commerce.
Temu, the first reviews on Chinese ecommerce
Temu is an online e-commerce that offers products of various categories at very low prices. Temu is a Chinese company PDD Holdingswhich he also owns Pinduoduo, a popular social commerce platform in China. In the Land of the Dragon, Pinduoduo is the main rival of companies like Aliexpress.
Temu debuted in the United States in September 2022, headquartered in Boston. It arrived in Italy in the last few weeks and immediately attracted the attention of web users for its bargain prices, which many users have discussed on social media. But what is behind these prices?
Compared to very used stores like Shein, which produces its own fashion products, Temu functions as a marketplace, which sells products from various Chinese and non-Chinese companies. Of all kinds: cheap technology, gadgets and accessories. Even the best known brands.
You can make purchases both on the site and via the smartphone application.
What do Temu reviews say?
On the review aggregator site TrustPilot, Temu’s app and site have a rating of 3.3 stars out of five, with a grade considered acceptable. But the average seems to be made between excellent and very low marks, between five and one star.
Going into the detail of the most recent ratings, the five-star reviews speak above all of the low prices and gift codes, which users also report on TrustPilot. For a minimum purchase and entering a code, they have got some products as a gift and have reported their enthusiasm in the reviews.
Those who gave five stars instead report the poor quality of the products. It seems that the products of well-known brands also known in Italy are of good quality, but they also cost the same on Aliexpress or Amazon. Instead, products from lesser-known companies would have low quality. Some users report that the photographs on the site do not match the product arrived at home. And there are also some users who complain of delays in shipments and poor assistance.
Users report that Temu actually provides the compensation of 5 euros promised in case of courier delay. However, it doesn’t take away from the disservice.
The word to the experts
Online, there are also several accounts from journalists and influencers about their own experience with Temu. Which at the moment, however, can only be episodic: no one has had the time to carry out in-depth analyses, at the most to place one or two orders. However, it seems that the majority received the goods in the times indicated. Reporting the same thing that other users say: when the brands are known, the products are of good quality but the savings are limited; when they are unknown brands, the risk of having a poor quality product increases.
If Time reports several complaints about failed deliveries from the USA, for the moment the phenomenon does not seem as widespread in Italy. Although on TrustPilot some users complain about missed deliveries or non-compliant products.
The analysis by GreenMe is interesting, reporting two concerns. On the one hand, having good discounts and gift codes which risks distorting reviews and leading to convulsive buying. On TrustPilot, a large amount of positive reviews report having use gift code at checkout to lower the cost, despite having purchased several other products at full price. A legal practice, which however risks stagger the votes of users on the actual service.
The other point is the sustainability: accelerated production and worldwide shipments to lower production costs have a negative environmental impact. It should be noted, however, that in Temu’s policies the site claims to have aa “zero tolerance” policy towards suppliers who do not comply with the laws on working conditions.
So can we trust?
The convenience of Temu’s products, according to the reviews, comes above all at the expense of quality – while quality products have prices comparable to those found on other platforms. It therefore seems that, first of all, users need to adjust their expectations: it cannot be expected that the 1.99 euro gadget is of the same quality as the one that costs five times as much on another ecommerce.
However, it seems that purchases are in most cases safe and that deliveries take place on schedule. Although the products are not always of the same quality as the photographs on the site. Hence, you need to pay more attention than other platforms.