The e-commerce marketing company Omnisend surveyed 1,000 UK citizens and found that Chinese marketplaces are gaining popularity in the UK.
Temu (known to 71% of the British population) and Shein (63%) are the most popular in the category.
Around 60% of Brits have shopped in Chinese marketplaces in the past year, and 62% shopped in more than one marketplace.
43% of Brits who shop online have bought something from Temu, 42% from Shein, 25% from TikTok Shop and 22% from AliExpress.
The most popular items to buy are adult clothes from Shein (62%), household items from Temu (34%), electronics from AliExpress (24%), and accessories from TikTok Shop (27%).
“Only a year has passed since Temu was launched in the UK and it is now the fifth most popular e-commerce platform in the country, according to our survey, approaching the awareness level that other more established platforms, such as Amazon, have been building for decades.
The Temu phenomenon has also brought other Chinese marketplaces to light, creating serious competition to local brands because of their cheap pricing,” says Greg Zakowicz, senior e-commerce expert at Omnisend.
“In fact, around 17% of Brits say that they see Temu as the main competitor for Amazon. While 96% of respondents state they don’t trust Temu, it seems that this doesn’t stop them from shopping on the Chinese-owned platform.”
Temu vs Amazon. What do consumers like and dislike?
When asked to evaluate their experience at Amazon, Brits rate it an average of 8 out of 10. They say they appreciate Amazon’s fast delivery (60%), cheap prices (56%), and ease to buy online (53%).
Interestingly, those Brits who dislike Amazon say that it’s too expensive (18%), lacks local goods (16%), and has too much advertising (17%).
When asked about Temu, Brits rate it lower — 6.7 out of 10. The things that annoy Temu’s customers are poor quality (30%), long delivery times (30%), and too much advertising (14%).
28% of respondents said that they like Temu because of its wide assortment, 49% mentioned low prices, and 29% said that they find the process of shopping very easy.
“The impression of the consumer differs from person to person. What may seem like a long delivery time for one person, may be reasonable for another.
“Our survey showed that around 16% of respondents are willing to wait more than a week for their package, and 4% would even be willing to wait more than two weeks,” said Greg Zakowicz. “However, for some people (21% of UK respondents), even three days is too long.”
The survey showed that many consumers choose Amazon when they want to buy electronics, books household items. Temu is a much less popular option for electronics, but it is popular for buying clothes and household items.
Ladies rate at Chinese marketplaces higher than men
Of all the British women surveyed, 48% say they have shopped at Temu, 58% at Shein, 31% at TikTok Shop, and 21% at AliExpress.
Men shop at Temu a bit less than women (38%) however, only 27% of them shopped at Shein and 19% at TikTok Shop.
AliExpress, on the other hand, is more popular among men – 24% shopped at AliExpress.
However, women rate Chinese marketplaces more favourably than men.
| Women | Men | |
|---|---|---|
| Temu | 6.8 | 6.6 |
| Shein | 7.3 | 6.4 |
| AliExpress | 6.3 | 6.1 |
| TikTok Shop | 7.1 | 6.5 |
What can British businesses do to compete with Chinese marketplaces?
“Our survey showed that consumers already see Amazon’s prices as too expensive compared to Chinese marketplaces.
“However, Amazon is available to compete because of its reputation and fast delivery. Competing with Chinese marketplaces can be much more complicated for smaller brands with their e-commerce shops,” says Greg Zakowicz, senior e-commerce expert at Omnisend.
Because SMBs don’t have big teams and budgets to compete with Chinese e-commerce platforms, Zakowicz recommends smaller businesses use marketing tools designed specifically for e-commerce needs.
Omnichannel marketing platforms can help businesses manage all of their marketing actions (emails, SMS, push notifications, reviews, and more) in one place. This helps smaller businesses save both time and money.
METHOD The survey was commissioned by Omnisend and conducted by Cint in April 2024.
A total of 4,000 respondents were surveyed across 4 countries.
Quotas were placed on age, gender, and place of residence to achieve a nationally representative sample among users.
