Temu taps Shopify sellers for future growth

Temu recently created an app to let Shopify merchants list their items directly in the Temu marketplace using their Shopify accounts.

Temu said the new app makes it easier for Shopify merchants to expand globally while giving shoppers more options. The app enables Shopify sellers to handle their product listings, inventory, and shipping all in one spot while tapping into Temu’s worldwide customer base.

“[Temu’s] original business model of direct-from-China shipping has become less viable,” Sky Canaves, eMarketer analyst for retail and e-commerce, told Retail Brew.

The end of the de minimis exemption, which permitted shipments costing less than $800 to enter the US duty-free and with minimal paperwork and verification, has impacted companies like Temu and Shein that relied on low-cost, cross-border shipping. The Shopify partnership comes as Temu is trying to reposition itself in a world where ultra-cheap online shopping may not thrive.

Recently, Temu began pushing sellers to send large shipments to US warehouses for faster delivery, Canaves added.

“It launched pretty intensive recruiting of US brands to try to bring name brands on board, and now it has an opportunity to target the smaller Shopify sellers who don’t have a really viable marketplace on Shopify,” Canaves said. US brands like PopMarket, Shop Succulents, and Grumpy Butcher have expanded to Temu since the online marketplace opened its doors to US sellers a year ago.

For Shopify, the Temu partnership is a way to give its sellers and merchants access to customers anywhere, Canaves said. Ultimately, she added, it’s smarter to collaborate within the e-commerce ecosystem.

“As the e-commerce pie grows, all of these platforms want to take a cut of it, and they see, I think, a better opportunity in partnering to capture a share of sales wherever they take place rather than closing themselves off.”