Chinese marketplace Temu has soft-launched in Thailand, marking its expansion in Southeast Asia.

The e-commerce platform, which entered Malaysia and the Philippines last year, offers discounts of up to 90 per cent on various cross-border unbranded goods, along with discount coupons worth 80 baht (US$2.26).

While initially focusing on unbranded items, Temu Thailand has plans to introduce branded products in the near future.

E-commerce expert Pawoot Pongvitayapanu, founder and CEO of Creden and PaySolutions, warns Thai retailers about the impact of the influx of cheap Chinese products in the country.

In an interview with Krungthep Turakij’s Deep Talk program, Pongvitayapanu said that while Chinese products have been “flooding” Thailand’s online market via Shopee, Lazada, and Tiktok, things are about to change.

“The Temu application brings Chinese products to Thai consumers without going through a middleman,” he said.

“It’s also available in the Thai language, accepts Thai currency and offers free shipping and a money-back guarantee, on top of promotions and discounts of up to 90 per cent. The application will be a new disruptive force and significantly affect Thai online retailers.”

Pongvitayapanu added that lower-priced items would attract customers and affect local enterprises.

“For example, it offers paper napkins for 20 baht versus 60 baht for the Thai version of the same product,” he said.

Pongvitayapanu explained that the low price from Temu would be challenging for small retailers who cannot compete in the price wars, while bigger companies that own manufacturing facilities might experience a profit decline as their costs are higher than those from China. 

“We will soon see a new round of price wars in the Thai e-commerce market. It will benefit consumers in the short-term but will hurt small and medium entrepreneurs who cannot compete in the long term,” he remarked.