TEMU - What Is it? and Why is it Dominating my Social Feed?

Now I'm starting by stating the obvious - Yes, I link to Temu in this blog but read on to find out my thoughts.

Temu - It’s on every second Instagram story, and TikTok and this Chinese-owned digital market space is currently the number one free shopping app in the App Store. In December for America, it was the most downloaded free app on BOTH the App Store and Google Play, a huge leap for a shopping app that didn’t exist months earlier. 

So what is Temu? Temu is an online-shopping megastore offering almost any product you can think of. ANYTHING, and it’s cheap. Think Aliexpress, Wish, or Shein prices and quality.

But here is the kicker - Temu is offering you cash for referring customers. Temu can no doubt attribute its popularity to its strategy of giving free stuff to users who promote the app on their social networks and get friends and family to sign up. In fact, I have seen people earn up to 2k using Temu, which is the main reason it’s flooding my social channels. It’s not because the products are great; it's purely because people are making cash. 

I have seen people earn $250, and $450, and I have seen influencers offer naughty pictures in return for signing up to Temu.

The money is good - Earn a $20 cash bonus for every two people who use your referral link to download the Temu app and create a new account. It’s pretty wild and maybe too good to be true.

But here are my concerns: Are we selling ourselves short for extra cash? Putting our morals aside and promoting a company where products go to the landfill generally for a quick win. Or did we forget this? 

I’ll be honest, I didn’t even think about what I was doing; I saw an opportunity to make money and went for it. We are as influencers promoting a website, asking people to sign up, without any thought process. It wasn’t until a follower questioned me that I hit pause. 

Crazy, I didn’t even think about it! I have turned down some serious money on the blog because I didn’t want to pop my name on the brand, yet here I am, so breezy.  

Yes, Temu is a legit website. The products are real, but what you get when they arrive is indeed a different story. On TrustPilot Reviews, Temu has 1,199 reviews and an average of three stars. However, one-star reviews have a slight majority over any other amount of stars. Most people complain about long shipping times, low-quality items, and poor customer service.

A fair amount of skepticism has been aimed at Temu, which is completely natural. The graphics are cheap; it’s gamified to the max, and at every turn, it suggests savings, freebies, cash, and more.

As my thoughts develop, I will add more to this blog, but I’m still in awe of how quickly
we jumped on this one, all in the sake of some extra money.

Hannah x