Use of low-cost e-commerce giants Temu and Shein has slowed considerably in the important thing U.S. market amid President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Chinese language imports and the closure of the de minimis loophole, new information reveals.
Temu’s U.S. each day energetic customers (DAUs) dropped 52% in Could versus March, earlier than Trump’s tariffs have been introduced, whereas these at rival Shein have been down 25%, in line with information shared with CNBC by market intelligence agency Sensor Tower.
DAUs is a measure of the quantity of people that go to or work together with a platform each 24 hours. Month-to-month energetic customers (MAUs), a measure of person engagement over a 30-day interval, was additionally down at Temu (30%) and Shein (12%) in Could versus March.
The declines have been additionally mirrored in each platforms’ Apple App Retailer rankings. Temu averaged a rank of 132 in Could 2025, down from a median high 3 rating a 12 months in the past, whereas Shein averaged a rank of 60 final month versus a high 10 rating the 12 months prior, the information confirmed.
Neither Temu nor Shein instantly responded to CNBC’s request for remark.
The person drop off comes as each Temu and Shein have pulled again on U.S. promoting spend over current months because the Trump administration’s tariff bulletins.
Trump in April introduced sweeping tariffs on Chinese language imports, together with the tip of the “de minimis” tariff exemption on Could 2, which allowed corporations to ship low-cost items value lower than $800 to the U.S. tariff-free.
These extra prices and regulatory hurdles are clearly hurting Chinese language platforms’ U.S. development prospects.
Rui Ma
founder and analyst, Tech Buzz China
In Could, Temu’s U.S. advert spend fell 95% year-on-year whereas Shein’s was down 70%.
“Temu and Shein’s decline in US advert spend was additionally noticeable in April, as spend decreased by 40% and 65% YoY, respectively,” Seema Shah, vp of analysis and insights at Sensor Tower, mentioned in emailed feedback to CNBC.
Each Temu and Shein additionally altered their logistics fashions within the wake of tariffs, shifting away from a drop transport mannequin, which allowed them to ship gadgets instantly from Chinese language suppliers to U.S. shoppers, and as an alternative, significantly in Temu’s case, increase a community of U.S. warehouses.
Rui Ma, founder and analyst at Tech Buzz China, mentioned such strikes have been additionally prone to have impacted the businesses’ advert spend technique and buyer acquisition patterns.
“All these extra prices and regulatory hurdles are clearly hurting Chinese language platforms’ U.S. development prospects,” she wrote in emailed feedback.
Tech Buzz China analysis from March confirmed {that a} 50% tariff could be the purpose at which Temu would lose most of its worth benefits and discover it tough to function. The tariff on former de minimis imports presently stands at 54%, having been lowered from 120% amid a 90-day tariff truce between the U.S. and China.
Development exterior the U.S.
Final week, Temu’s guardian firm PDD Holdings reported first-quarter earnings beneath estimates and pointed to tariffs as a big strain on sellers.
Temu’s reputation has however picked up exterior the U.S., with non-U.S. customers rising to account for 90% of the platform’s 405 million international MAUs within the second quarter, in line with HSBC.
Writing in a observe final week, HSBC analysts mentioned that was “supported by development in Europe, Latin America, and South America.” They added that the swiftest of that development occurred in “much less prosperous markets.”
“Many (Chinese language platforms) at the moment are actively redirecting their efforts towards different markets equivalent to Europe,” Ma mentioned.
