After two years of rapid global expansion, shopping app Temu has emerged as a genuine competitor to the biggest retailers in the U.S., including Amazon. But its growth is starting to look a lot more fraught, raising questions about whether it’s a dominant enough force to take on the Everything Store.
Earlier this week, Temu’s parent company PDD Holdings reported earnings that disappointed investors. Although the e-commerce upstart is still growing at a rapid clip — revenue climbed 86% in the second quarter to more than $13 billion — those numbers still fell short of analyst expectations, sending its shares plummeting and erasing $55 billion of market value, per Bloomberg. Although PDD’s recent pressures are tied to a broader economic slowdown in China, company executives hinted that its Temu brand, which has won a huge fanbase in the U.S. and other Western markets, is facing headwinds, as well.
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