Temu now allows any U.S. seller to join its online marketplace.
“Whether small businesses or individual entrepreneurs, [U.S. sellers] can now connect directly with millions of consumers,” a Temu spokesperson told PYMNTS Friday (Nov. 22) in an email. “Temu provides the tools; sellers bring the products. It’s a new way for businesses to grow and for shoppers to discover something fresh.”
Sellers can sign up at seller.temu.com, with no invitation needed, and can ship directly from U.S. warehouses to enable the delivery of products in as little as one business day, the spokesperson said.
Before opening the marketplace to all U.S. sellers, Temu had been recruiting U.S. merchants for about six months but allowed them to join only if they had received an invite code, Modern Retail reported Thursday (Nov. 21).
It was reported in October that Temu is attempting to attract Amazon’s merchants.
The move is transforming the way both companies do business, with Amazon developing a new storefront that showcases the kinds of lower-priced products found on Temu, and Temu beginning to build local delivery capabilities and courting American brands and sellers with products stored in the U.S.
“Sellers will jump at the chance to be able to diversify,” Jordan Berke, founder of retailer consultant Tomorrow, said in October.
It was reported in August that Temu made a splash in the U.S., going up against Amazon and Shein, at a time when it faces competition from JD.com and Alibaba in China and regulatory scrutiny in Europe.
Meanwhile, Amazon introduced a new store called Amazon Haul Nov. 13, saying it features products priced at $20 or less in a range of categories and is available on the company’s mobile website and shopping app.
“Finding great products at very low prices is important to customers, and we continue to explore ways that we can work with our selling partners so they can offer products at ultra-low prices,” Dharmesh Mehta, vice president of Worldwide Selling Partner Services at Amazon, said at the time.
It was reported in June that Amazon was planning to add a section to its shopping site that aims to compete with Temu and Shein by featuring items that are cheap and shipped from China to overseas customers.