Online marketplace Temu and fast-fashion powerhouse Shein, two of the biggest advertisers on US social media, are dramatically slashing their US digital ad spending in wake of Washington’s move to end the flow of affordable goods from China.
According to the Reuters news agency, Temu’s daily average US ad spend on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snap, X and YouTube declined a collective average of 31 percent between March 31 to April 13 compared to the previous 30 days. The report cited estimates by Sensor Tower.
Downloads of Temu on the App Store have fallen 62 percent in recent days, according to data from SimilarWeb, while parent company PDD’s U.S. shares plummeted 22 percent this month. Temu had been ranking in the top 10 of Apple’s list of the most downloaded free apps in the US for the past two years.
Meanwhile, Shein’s daily average US ad spend across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Pinterest fell a collective average of 19 percent over that same period, according to Sensor Tower. The Shein app is currently at No. 42 on the list of top free apps, down from No. 15 last month.
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Temu was previously one of Meta’s largest advertisers, however its sharp cut in spending could be troublesome for Meta’s ad business, Reuters says.
A review of Meta’s ad library showed that as of Wednesday, Temu was running just six ads across Meta’s U.S. platforms, a miniscule fraction of the 27,000 ads across Meta sites and apps globally.
The slashed spending comes amid the Trump administration’s trade war against China, which has been subjected to a cumulative 145 percent tariff rate, and takes place ahead of Washington’s ending of the “de minimis” policy, which permitted parcels of merchandise valued at under US$800 to enter the U.S. duty free.
Both Temu and Shein posted notices to their websites warning American customers that product prices will be raised starting next week as the import tariffs increase costs for the companies.
