The fast-fashion world’s four-way battle could have a fifth player in Temu.
The eCommerce company has been operating in the U.S. since last year but made its Super Bowl debut Sunday (Feb. 12) in a pair of ads that promoted the increasingly popular online shopping app.
A Boston-based subsidiary of China’s PDD Holdings (formerly Pinduoduo), Temu debuted in September of last year as part of PDD’s first major overseas exploration.
The company is now considered serious competition to fellow fast-fashion brand Shein, although Temu’s offerings go beyond clothing and include groceries, home and garden products and pet supplies, Bloomberg reported Monday (Feb. 13).
Sunday’s ads, which appeared in the first and third quarters of the Eagles/Chiefs matchup, were likely seen by tens of millions of viewers. PDD also plans to give away $10 million to users through online sweepstakes, according to the report.
“Through the largest stage possible, we want to share with our consumers that they can shop with a sense of freedom because of the price we offer,” PDD said in a statement published by Bloomberg.
Temu’s national debut comes on the heels of a 2022 that saw competition in the fast-fashion world intensify, as Shein — a relative newcomer on the scene — outpaced rivals such as H&M, Uniqlo and Zara, a “four-way fight,” as PYMNTS termed it last month.
That was when H&M announced its fourth-quarter profits dropped 68% to $84 million, a downturn CEO Helena Helmersson blamed on the company’s decision to wind down its operations in Russia and higher costs for raw materials and freight.
“Not mentioned in those results was the meteoric advance of Shein, a privately held, Singapore-based apparel maker and eCommerce seller that topped fast-fashion-related web searches in 2022 with a social influencer-centric marketing approach that’s made it a hit with younger consumers living with inflation,” PYMNTS wrote last month.
Last year saw reports that Shein was generating revenue at a rate that put it in the same arena as its rivals, with projections showing it bringing in nearly $24 billion in revenue and $30 billion gross merchandise value for 2022.
Last month also brought the news that Shein was apparently considering a funding round that would reduce its market valuation by a third. A report by the Financial Times said the deal to raise $3 billion would slash the retailer’s market cap to $64 billion after it was valued at $100 billion in a funding round last April.
Reached for comment on the report, a Shein spokesperson told PYMNTS, “Shein denies the accuracy of some of the information,” without specifying the information.
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