After entering the fiercely competitive European and American battlefields, emerging Southeast Asian markets, and the farthest South American region from China, Pinduoduo's tentacles have extended to low-key but enormous potential in Africa.
On January 17th, Temu, a cross-border e-commerce platform under Pinduoduo, officially launched its South African website. This is also the 49th country that Temu has entered since its launch in September last year. Previously, it had quickly covered Asia, Europe, North America, South America, Oceania, and South Africa, with downloads exceeding 200 million.
According to the latest data from SimilarWeb, as of the end of last year, Temu's global independent customer traffic had reached 467 million, ranking second in the world. The first was Amazon with 2.345 billion visitors, while Shein, who competed with Temu for users, ranked third with 172.3 million.
The speed of evolution of this ranking is astonishing. Just six months ago, Temu's global visitor volume remained stagnant at 226.3 million, ranking fourth, but now it has doubled.
The reason for the above changes is related to Temu's continuous opening of new sites and continuation of its consistent low price promotion strategy.
In South Africa, Temu also adopts large discount coupons and free shipping services that are familiar to users in other regions. Most product prices remain between 10 rand and 300 rand (approximately 3.8 to 114 yuan), which has a certain price advantage compared to other local e-commerce platforms.
Temu usually does not build its own logistics, but instead collaborates with third-party logistics service providers. According to Interface News, Temu's logistics partner in South Africa is Fastway, and delivery time takes 6 to 20 days, which is longer than logistics time in other regions.
But in order to retain users, Temu stated that if the delivery arrives 20 days later, consumers can earn 20 rand points (approximately 7.6 yuan) within 48 hours.
In the past, due to weak transportation infrastructure and underdeveloped payment systems, it was difficult to deliver e-commerce orders in Africa, and Chinese internet companies rarely ventured into this land. But as the popularity of smartphones and the internet in Africa gradually increases, more and more people are starting to shop online.
Interface News learned from local practitioners that after the epidemic, the penetration rate of local e-commerce in Africa has accelerated, and some informal platforms have also stopped operating, gradually returning the industry to rationality.
As the second largest economy in Africa, the e-commerce market in South Africa has enormous growth potential.
According to data reports, as of the beginning of last year, over 70% of people in South Africa used the internet, many of whom were young people. It is expected that by 2025, the number of e-commerce users in South Africa will reach 33.4 million, with an e-commerce penetration rate of 53.1%, and it is expected to become the largest e-commerce market in Africa.
But Temu is not without competitors in South Africa. Currently, Jumia, the largest e-commerce platform in Africa, and Bidorbuy, the old e-commerce platform, have taken over, and Shein has also entered the region one step ahead of Temu.
Not only that, Amazon plans to launch its South African website this year, and South African internet giant Naspers has also announced that it will increase investment in its e-commerce platform Takealot. Temu faces no less competition in South Africa than in other regions.
Considering the cultural and regulatory policy differences in different countries, Temu is constantly expanding its overseas presence while also addressing an increasing number of supply chain, logistics, compliance and other issues. When Pinduoduo presents itself as a "global company", the demands from the outside world will also become more stringent.