"Spend 100,000 Won and Discard if You Fail" Chinese Shopping App Becomes MZ Generation's Play Content

YouTube and TikTok Buzz
Enthusiasm for Low-Cost Product Reviews
Fulfilling Desire to Show Off at a Cheap Price

Office worker Choi (29) recently purchases clothing and toys from AliExpress once a month. Here, the price of a T-shirt is just over 10,000 won, so even spending 100,000 won can fill a delivery box with clothes. Picking out the best items from the delivered products is also one of the small pleasures. Choi said, "Even if I fail in shopping, I enjoy it because I bought the items cheaply," adding, "I just laugh off it when clothes with faulty seams or sizes much smaller than expected are delivered."

Recently, among the MZ generation (Millennials + Generation Z), a culture of consuming the Chinese e-commerce platforms 'Altesh' (AliExpress, Temu, Shein) as a kind of play content has been spreading like a trend. Taking advantage of the low prices, buying clothing and other items in bulk and then selecting good quality products is a shopping method called 'Temukkang' or 'Alrikang,' gaining popularity.

Short-form platform TikTok features videos related to 'Alrikang' and 'Temukang'. [Image source=TikTok capture]

Searching for Temukkang and Alrikang on YouTube and the short-form platform TikTok yielded hundreds of related videos. Most of these videos feature YouTubers unboxing delivery boxes from Chinese e-commerce platforms and reviewing the quality of the items. Unlike luxury-focused 'unboxing' content (which means opening boxes to review high-end luxury goods), these videos focus on low-priced product reviews and entertainment.

However, viewers of Temukkang videos cheer more when YouTubers laugh off the disappointment of products not meeting expectations after buying low-priced items in bulk. For example, one YouTuber posted a video on the 8th of last month showing that a pearl bag purchased on Temu, thought to be a finished product, was actually a DIY (do-it-yourself) item, which became a hot topic on social media. The video recorded 2.04 million views about a month after posting, receiving great response from the MZ generation.

The reason Temukkang videos are so popular among the MZ generation is that they can satisfy their desire for conspicuous consumption at a low cost. Freelancer Lee Soyoon (27), who enjoys watching Temukkang videos, said, "Domestic shopping malls are so expensive that when buying something, I have to carefully check reviews and put a lot of effort into it," adding, "But Temu’s prices are low, so even if I fail in shopping, it satisfies my desire to buy freely."

In fact, the MZ generation uses Chinese e-commerce platforms as a channel for conspicuous consumption. According to a survey conducted last month by the consumer organization Consumer Citizens’ Coalition targeting 500 consumers nationwide aged 18 and over, people in their 20s accounted for the largest share of consumers on Chinese e-commerce platforms at 22.2%. However, the proportion of 20s who filed complaints or sought damage consultations about Chinese e-commerce platforms was only 18.9%, the lowest among all age groups. People in their 40s and 50s accounted for 30.7% and 31.6% of complaints, respectively. This suggests that the MZ generation does not pay much attention to the quality of goods sold on these platforms.

Experts explained that the Temukkang craze stems from the MZ generation’s lack of economic means, leading them to satisfy their desire for conspicuous consumption cheaply. Professor Lee Young-ae of the Department of Consumer Studies at Incheon National University said, "Humans have not only a desire for functional consumption but also a desire for conspicuous consumption to prove that they are different from others," adding, "However, due to economic difficulties, they cannot buy expensive products, so a culture of buying cheap goods and enjoying it like a game has become popular."