China e-commerce giant Temu begins Vietnam sales, unlicensed

Temu, the e-commerce platform under China’s PDD Holding, has been selling products in Vietnam since early October, but it has not registered its operations, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

A representative from the E-commerce & Digital Economy Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade confirmed this to local media Thursday.

Vietnamese law requires foreign e-commerce platforms seeking to operate in the country to register their operations

Decrees 52/2013/ND-CP and 85/2021/ND-CP (that updates Decree 52) specify that cross-border online shopping platforms that have a Vietnamese domain, use the Vietnamese language in their interface, or have over 100,000 transactions from Vietnam must register with local authorities.

Netizens in Vietnam have been saying that they have successfully bought products via Temu at “amazingly cheap” prices.

Speaking at a ministry press meet Wednesday, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Sinh Nhat Tan said he was amazed at the dirt-cheap prices of products on Temu.

Tan said his ministry will study the issue thoroughly to take proper action. It will closely control trade fraud and counterfeit and fake goods. “If they are found dumping, they will be subjected to anti-dumping regulations.”

Temu, the international version of China’s Pinduoduo, allows users to connect directly with manufacturers in China and offers free delivery fees, thus allowing international clients to buy products at cheap prices.

The Chinese platform debuted in the U.S. in September 2022 and has swiftly expanded to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and Southeast Asian countries.

With its expansion strategy, Temu has become the second most popular e-commerce platform worldwide, with 663 million monthly visits in Q3/2024, only behind Amazon.

However, Indonesia has banned Temu and other countries have expressed concerns about the platform.

According to the latest report by e-commerce data provider Metric, e-commerce transactions in Vietnam jumped 37.66% year-on-year to VND227.7 trillion ($10.91 billion) in the first nine months of this year, or over $1 billion per month. The figure for Q3 alone is VND84.75 trillion, rising 18.15% from Q2.

TikTok Shop and Shopee saw positive growth in Q3 versus Q2 and Q3/2023.

Products of less than VND200,000 ($7.86), classified as “cheap”, accounted for more than 50% of transaction value, increasing the segment’s market share by 9% quarter-on-quarter.