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Chinese electronic commerce giants Temu and Shein have reduced their American expenses on advertising platforms and said they would increase prices later this month, while they are fighting with the end of tax exemptions that helped them reduce rivals such as Amazon.
There is Cut its expenses on platforms, notably Meta, X and Alphabet Youtube on average 31% in the two weeks leading to April 13 compared to the previous month, according to estimates of the sensor tower of the market intelligence group.
Intelligent electronic commerce data also revealed that TEMU had canceled all expenses on the Google shopping platform since April 9, when large tariffs of China have been introduced.
In an email to customers on Wednesday, TEMU said that because of “world trade rules and prices, our operating expenses had increased” and that it would make “price adjustments” from April 25. Shein sent an almost identical email with the same date.
The advertising decline and the price increase of the two retailers, who have developed quickly in the United States from the COVVI-19 pandemic to the detriment of competitors, notably Amazon, show the general impact of President Donald Trump's trade conflict with China.
The movements will have an impact on American consumers and could harm social media platforms, including Meta, which offer advertising space to Chinese sellers so that they can reach the Western public.
Meet and Shein were affected by the White House decision last week to increase the rights on the low value of China to 90% of the value of a package, or by flat fees from $ 75 to $ 150. This decision, which comes into force on May 2, will end the “minimis” exemption which allows goods assessed at less than $ 800 to be shipped as a franchise on US customers.
Western competitors criticized the two companies for having undervalued them and sold lower quality goods.
“The decision to fill the escape of minimis was like a killer of targeted weeds,” said Mike Ryan, an intelligent electronic commerce analyst.
TEMU and Shein have spent billions of dollars engaged in an American advertising blitz in recent years, but each has even less than 1% of the country's electronic commerce market, according to the Consumer EDGE analysis company.
Meta's revenues from China were $ 18.4 billion last year, more than 10% of its total of $ 165 billion, according to financial disclosure. In January, he cited prices or commercial disputes such as a potential risk for his activities, saying that she has generated “significant income from a small number of resellers at the service of advertisers based in China”.
The two retailers are now retiring. The daily spending of Shein on Meta, Tiktok, YouTube and Pinterest fell 19% in the first two weeks of April as the prices were imposed, according to data from the Tower of the Sensors. He has almost halved his year of spending over the year, in particular reducing the advertising dollars of Youtube.
TEMU increased spending on American platforms significantly in the past year that it was still higher than the levels of 2024, despite the recent decrease, according to data. Temu was the best advertiser on Elon Musk's X in the United States in 2024.
Meta and X refused to comment. Google, Temu and Shein did not immediately respond to requests for comments.
James McDonald, director of data intelligence and forecasts at Marketing Intelligence Company Warc, said that advertising discounts would have an impact on sales because the two companies had no loyalty to the sufficient brand. “They must constantly advertise to keep customers.”
The two companies were responsible for more than 30% of expeditions of nearly 1.5 million small rates in the United States, according to a Congress report in 2023 and data on American customs.
The tasks on low value plans are still lower than the prices on Chinese imports, which represent up to 125%.
