From addictive shopping features to investigations over unsafe products, the fast-growing platform is drawing criticism across Europe.
Although founded only in 2022, the Chinese e-commerce platform Temu has rapidly become one of the world’s most downloaded shopping apps, installed on more than 1.2 billion devices globally.
Low prices are only part of the story behind its meteoric rise. It also relies on aggressive marketing and manipulative practices designed to keep users engaged.
According to analytics company ECDB, Temu’s global sales reached $92.5 billion last year, representing a 75-percent year-on-year increase. Analysts expect further growth of up to 40 percent this year.
Temu is also rapidly gaining ground in Slovakia. According to a survey by Think Big Collective, the number of Temu-related searches on the Slovak internet climbed to 4.5 million last year — a 58-percent increase compared to 2024 and the fastest growth recorded in the retail sector.
