At Shocking Prices, Even People in Their 50s Are Hooked... The Invasion of Ali and Temu from China

Some Domestic E-commerce Companies Experience Slight Decline in Market Share

Chinese e-commerce companies such as 'Ali' and 'Temu' are rapidly growing in the domestic e-commerce market. These companies are attracting domestic consumers with a strategy centered on ultra-low-priced products backed by strong capital power. Despite controversies over complaints about quality and service, the sale of counterfeit branded products, and exaggerated product advertisements, demand for Chinese direct purchase applications (apps) continues to steadily increase.

Latecomer 'Temu's Rapid Growth, Notable Usage Among Those in Their 50s

According to an analysis related to 'Chinese online commerce apps' from Macromill Embrain Panel Big Data on the 27th, as of January this year, the number of installs of the representative Chinese direct purchase app 'AliExpress' increased by 97.8% compared to the same period last year.

AliExpress and Temu
[Image source=Macromill Embrain]

In the case of the latecomer 'Temu', the number of installs has shown a steep upward trend since its launch (July 2023), and in January, it recorded a growth rate of 1020.5%, closely trailing AliExpress.

What is noteworthy is that among Temu users, the installation proportions of teenagers and those in their 50s stood out (teenagers 25.6%, 20s 16.7%, 30s 14.5%, 40s 19.1%, 50s 24.1%). This contrasts with AliExpress, which has the lowest installation proportion among those in their 50s (teenagers 24.3%, 20s 17.2%, 30s 20.1%, 40s 21.9%, 50s 16.6%). Since the main weapon is the dramatic price benefits, it was expected that interest would be higher mainly among the economically weaker 10-20 age group, but it can be inferred that the user age range is expanding to include older users in their 50s.

Relatively Slight Decrease in ‘SSG.com’ Usage Centered on Those in Their 50s

As AliExpress, Temu, and others rapidly grow and expand their presence in the domestic market, domestic e-commerce companies such as Naver, Coupang, 11st, and SSG.com appear to be on high alert. Recently, as those in their 50s who have become familiar with online shopping in recent years have joined Temu’s main consumer base, the usage rate of SSG.com among this 50s age group has slightly decreased compared to other domestic distribution platforms. Although Coupang still maintains its market share in the domestic distribution market, the decrease in SSG.com usage suggests that the response of domestic distribution platforms will affect future usage rates and market share acquisition.