Just four years after it was launched in Switzerland, a new study from Comparis has revealed that Temu is now the country’s most popular online shop. The news has been met with alarm among Swiss supermarkets and other retailers, which have already launched multiple complaints against the super-cheap Chinese shopping website.
According to the survey, 18 percent of people in Switzerland say Temu is now their first port of call when shopping on the internet. This means the Chinese-owned online marketplace has overtaken the previous top retailer Digitec Galaxus, which now occupies 17 percent of the market.
The fashion brand Zalando (15 percent) and international distributor Amazon (11 percent) rounded out the top four. In terms of Swiss brands, the aforementioned Digitec Galaxus in second was followed by Migros (8 percent), Coop (6 percent) and Brack (5 percent), which took places fifth through seventh.
The four top Chinese brands, Temu, Shein, Wish and Aliexpress, now hold a quarter of the Swiss online market. There is evidence to suggest that this may increase in future, with 52 percent of respondents having bought from one of the four at least once. Non-Temu and Co. shoppers only make up a majority in German-speaking Switzerland, and at 57 percent, women are more likely to purchase from the discount stores than men (48 percent).
When asked why users bought from Temu, a whopping 71 percent said it was because of the low prices. "At Temu and Co., everyday items, clothing and accessories can often be purchased at significantly lower prices than in Swiss shops or on Swiss online portals. The lack of proof of quality or the sometimes inadequate product safety hardly play a role," Comparis wrote.
The rise of Temu and other super cheap online retailers has been met with alarm among local businesses. A recent survey from the Swiss Retail Federation found that 60 percent of companies say Temu’s emergence is “worrying” or “very worrying”. Most fear a race to the bottom on price, which they will struggle to win given the size of Temu and the cost of salaries and operating in Switzerland.
As a result, back in June 2024, the Retail Federation filed an official complaint with the government regarding Temu. They accused the website of using fake discounts and misleading price and availability information to lure in customers, practices which are against Swiss law.
There have also been several criticisms of how Temu and other retailers run their businesses. Alongside quality and fast fashion-related complaints, in June 2023 a select committee report from the United States Congress said that there is an “extremely high risk” that Temu’s supply chains could involve forced Uyghur labour in the Xinjiang province of China.
In October 2024, the European Union launched an investigation into Temu amid concerns that it was selling illegal and counterfeit products, and that its app was designed to be addictive. In response to the US' accusations, a spokesperson for Temu told the BBC that it was not responsible for third-party sellers that use its platform.
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