Temu's promotion of U.S.-based products also puts it in more direct competition with Amazon, eBay and Walmart, which have also signed up sellers in China who ship goods overseas to their warehouses. Amazon last year took notice of Temu and Shein's dramatic growth in the U.S. when it launched its own budget storefront, called Haul.
Temu, which is owned by Chinese online retailer PDD Holdings, began onboarding sellers with inventory in U.S. warehouses in March. By July, roughly 20% of Temu's U.S. sales came from those sellers, not merchants based in China, according to e-commerce market research firm Marketplace Pulse.