Temu has been blacklisted in a big way, this time from Indonesia.
The Indonesian government called on Apple and Google to remove the Temu app from their respective mobile stores, and per the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the app has been removed from both.
Earlier in October, Indonesia banned the low-cost e-commerce player, citing it as a threat to small-to-medium-sized businesses built in Indonesia, and noting it was working to protect its consumers, Reuters reported.
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“We’re not here to protect e-commerce, but we protect small and medium enterprises. There are millions we must protect,” Budi Arie Setiadi, Indonesia’s communications minister, told Reuters, also noting that it has caused “unhealthy competition” for existing businesses in the country.
Indonesia has not tracked any credible purchases in the country via Temu, Reuters reported.
Per Reuters, Indonesia plans to pursue similar action against Temu’s rival, Shein, though the fast-fashion purveyor does not yet operate in the country.
Indonesia previously took similar action against TikTok Shop. TikTok’s eventual acquisition of a 75 percent controlling stake in Indonesian company Tokopedia later re-upped its business prospects in the country. While several outlets have reported that Temu might be in the market to purchase a stake in Indonesia’s Bukalapak, Reuters reported that the latter company denied those reports and that the communications minister promised to block investment from Temu in Indonesia.
Temu did not return Sourcing Journal’s request for comment on the ban in Indonesia. The vast majority of Temu’s sellers are Chinese manufacturers and merchants.
Even as it faced a ban from one country, Temu has made the decision to tap into two other Asian markets, both previously untouched by the parent PDD Holdings-operated company: Vietnam and Brunei.
The SCMP reported that the Vietnam introduction appears to have been done in haste—Temu launched its site there only in English, despite the majority of the population speaking Vietnamese as their first language. In addition to the language barrier, Temu reportedly launched the offering without giving users the ability to pay via Momo, a popular mobile payment platform in Vietnam. Instead, consumers must pay via credit card or Google Pay.
The expansion comes as excitement around the Vietnamese economy continues to grow; the World Bank published a report in late August projecting the country’s economy would grow by 6.1 percent in 2024. And according to the country’s General Statistics Office, the average monthly income of Vietnamese workers increased 7.4 percent in the first half of 2024, as compared with the same period during 2023, which could point to an increase in disposable income among the country’s consumers.
In Brunei, Temu has launched in both English and Malay, signaling a launch with more advanced notice in place.
Despite the new locations it has elected to open up shop in, Temu faces a slew of regulatory questioning in the markets it has already established itself in.
In the UK, Temu has been the subject of scrutiny over the Digital Services Act (DSA), under which it has to adhere to some of the strictest rules in place for online platforms, given its designation as a Very Large Online Platform (VLOP).
In the United States, officials have begun talks over eliminating or significantly changing the de minimis rule, which currently allows low-cost goods to enter the country with little to no scrutiny and without tariffs. The company has also been called out by members of Congress—both Democrats and Republicans—and has been called upon for investigations around consumer safety.
