Shoppers want to be able to find a wide variety of products in one place, findings from a Temu online shopping survey show.
The results, which Temu released this week, are based on a survey it commissioned from Propeller Insights of more than 1,000 U.S. adults, aged 18 to 65. Propeller Insights conducted the survey in December 2023. This is the first survey Temu has released looking at the U.S. market, a Temu spokesperson told Digital Commerce 360 via email.
Pinduoduo owns Temu, which launched in 2022 and isn’t yet reflected in Digital Commerce 360 rankings. Pinduoduo operates an app-only marketplace for Chinese consumers. Because it doesn’t operate an ecommerce website, it is not included in Digital Commerce 360’s Asia Database.
Temu online shopping survey results
Consistent with findings from several Digital Commerce 360 consumer-insight surveys, Temu found that price is the top factor for nearly two-thirds of respondents (63.9%).
After price, product quality and delivery speed were the most important factors influencing consumers’ purchasing decisions, the data showed. Lower on the priority list were the brand’s reputation, online security and sustainability efforts, the spokesperson said.
78.4% of respondents said they compare prices online before purchasing products. Nearly three-quarters (73%) said they believe they get better deals online than in physical stores, and they prefer to shop online.
“Online marketplaces, which sell a vast range of products, are now more popular than individual retail brand websites,” Temu said in a report.
During the 2023 holiday season, just over a quarter (25.7%) of surveyed consumers shopped at online marketplaces. In comparison, a fifth (20%) shopped directly on retailers’ websites.
More than three-quarters of respondents (75.2%) said they are savvy enough to know which websites are safe and trustworthy to buy from. Nearly three-quarters (73.3%) said they read customer reviews to help determine if an ecommerce site is trustworthy, according to the Temu online shopping survey.
Temu and the social media effect
Social media also has an important impact on consumer selection of online shopping sites, Temu said in the report. It added that “every age demographic learned about Temu primarily through social media.”
“An interesting fact — when it comes to spending behavior, consumers make purchases out of personal interest rather than being influenced by what they see on social media,” the Temu spokesperson told Digital Commerce 360.
53.4% of respondents report not being influenced to buy something based on seeing someone else own it, the spokesperson said. And 53.9% will still make a purchase even if their peers advise them against it, the spokesperson added.
“While we didn’t obtain any data on which social media platforms are most popular for online shopping, we did find out which online shopping platforms were most popular,” the Temu spokesperson said. “Some of the top platforms that U.S. consumers preferred included Amazon, Target, and eBay.”
Amazon is No. 1 in the Top 1000, Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of the largest North American online retailers. Amazon is also No. 3 in Digital Commerce 360’s Global Online Marketplaces Database. It ranks the 100 largest such marketplaces by third-party GMV.
Target ranks No. 5 in the Top 1000. EBay ranks No. 6 in the Global Online Marketplaces Database.
Most and least popular shopping categories
The top three shopping categories during the 2023 holiday season, according to the Temu online shopping survey, were:
- Clothing and accessories
- Household items
- Consumer electronics
Meanwhile, the least-shopped categories, according to the survey, were sports and outdoor equipment, along with pet supplies.
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