Temu “beaten” at home? Can’t beat the Japanese hundred-dollar store?

According to reports, Temu originally planned to open the Japan Station on June 22nd, but due to the delay of the preparatory process, the actual online time was postponed to the beginning of July.

After the “publicity” Temu returned to East Asia, it did not continue the propaganda spirit of throwing millions into the Super Bowl, nor did it recruit troops with great fanfare. As the rumor goes: Temu mainly started cold in Japan in the early days, testing the order process and consumer feedback.

It is understood that the website interface of Temu Japan Station is almost the same as that of other European and American sites, including simple design, dazzling promotional discounts and roughly the same product categories. Almost copied the model of American station to Japan, only added the language, even the product pictures were copied from the United States, and there was no local innovation.

The landing of Temu Japan Station seems a little hasty. At present, although its website has been opened, the APP has not been successfully launched. However, there are also many flaws in the website. For example, the evaluation of many products is basically translated into Japanese by machine, and the probability is that they are translated from American stations in batches.

Temu’s convergence in the Japanese market may be because Japanese consumers are very different from European and American markets. Japanese consumers pay attention to product quality, emphasize consumer experience and have high brand loyalty. In Japan, excellent quality control and product strength are the keys to successfully enter the market.

On the other hand, Temu, which locates the low-end sinking market, has suffered from the common problems of many low-priced platforms since its launch: the proliferation of shanzhai and the uneven quality. In Europe and America, a good consumer credibility has not been established, not to mention the Japanese market, which attaches great importance to experience and quality.

At the same time, Temu’s low-cost route is not compatible with Japan’s mainstream high-end consumer demand. This natural contradiction also makes Temu Japan Station somewhat constrained: compared with the eye-catching 1 cent area in the US station, a large number of explosions are priced at only a few dollars, while the discount in Japan Station is much smaller, and products of thousands of yen abound.

In the European and American markets, Temu relies on low-priced deus ex, and the price of similar products is only 1/3-1/2 that of Amazon. However, in Japan, Temu can neither abandon the low-price strategy, nor is it eager to be limited by the inherent label of low-price platform.

As a result, Temu failed to establish absolute price barriers in Japan. In fact, the ultimate pursuit of consumer experience does not affect Japanese people’s embrace of cheap products. There is a huge sinking market hidden in Japan-Baiyuan Store. As the name implies, a hundred-dollar store refers to a store where almost all goods are sold at a price of 100 yen each. These stores provide products with excellent quality and moderate price, which are deeply loved by Japanese consumers. For Temu, its low-price strategy does not have absolute advantages in the face of local competitors such as hundred-dollar stores.

In addition, the competition in the Japanese e-commerce market is also very fierce. Amazon, Yahoo and Letian are three giants, and Temu needs to find its own positioning and competitive advantage in this complex market.

To sum up, Temu needs to be cautious when entering the Japanese market. It needs to find the development direction in line with the tonality of the Japanese market, and deepen the brand and product strength in order to improve the repurchase rate and gain a foothold in the local market. At the same time, we should fully consider Japanese consumers’ high requirements for quality and experience and compete effectively with local competitors.


Post time: Aug-08-2023