TEMU’s advertising strategy: $517 million in 15 months!

As an emerging e-commerce platform, TEMU has successfully attracted the attention of overseas consumers through a large number of advertisements. TEMU’s ads are everywhere, whether on social media, paid search or traditional TV channels. This has not only helped TEMU expand its reach, but also made it a leader in the e-commerce market.

In order to further expand its market share, TEMU adopted a strategy of “throwing money” through multiple channels. From January to November 2023, TEMU’s AD spend grew 1,000% year on year, 76% of which was placed on social media. In addition, TEMU plans to invest more in marketing in the television space and participate in the advertising of the Super Bowl for the second consecutive year in 2024.

In addition to advertising, TEMU has also adopted a digital marketing “blitz” strategy to acquire new customers. Like SHEIN, TEMU has a dominant position in the market with low advertising prices and has succeeded in attracting a large number of consumers. According to Goldman Sachs analysts’ estimates, TEMU will spend about $1.2 billion on Meta advertising in 2023, with 8,900 ads in January alone.

In addition to spending on advertising, TEMU also boosts brand exposure through Google paid search, where its products appear alongside well-known brands in search results. In addition, TEMU’s hashtag views on TikTok reached a staggering 11 billion times, showing its strong influence on social media.

TEMU’s success, however, does not depend solely on advertising. It is also leveraging its social media influencer program to expand brand awareness by partnering with more than 10,000 creators. This strategy not only increases brand exposure, but also further solidifies consumer loyalty to the brand.

With the increase in advertising spending, TEMU’s user engagement has also grown significantly. Andrew Lipsman, an independent e-commerce analyst, said TEMU’s increasingly engaged users showed that the advertising strategy was working. In addition, according to GWS Magnify, TEMU has seen a 788% increase in global web searches over the past 12 months, indicating increasing brand awareness and influence.

In addition to the success of its advertising strategy, TEMU has changed the way the advertising landscape works. It has “crushed” competitors with low advertising prices and pushed up customer acquisition costs. That puts Google and Meta’s two biggest AD market competitors under pressure. According to a report by the Tinuiti advertising agency, 90 percent of advertisers are competing with TEMU to buy Google shopping ads, and consider TEUMP to be in competition with Amazon. TEMU’s spending spree on Google ads is expected to continue through the first half of 2024.

However, some analysts are cautious about the market prospects for TEMU and SHEIN beyond 2025. They note that sales on these platforms may depend on aggressive advertising strategies, and sales may decline once advertising stops. Therefore, in order to maintain sales, these platforms need to leverage consumer data to build marketing products, such as email databases for existing consumers. Only in this way can we maintain sales growth without relying on heavy advertising investment.

Overall, TEMU, as an emerging e-commerce platform, has successfully attracted the attention of overseas consumers and expanded its market share through a variety of strategies. However, in order to maintain its sales growth and market position, TEMU still needs to constantly innovate and adapt its marketing strategy.