Company profile
- Industry
- Online marketplace
- Founded
- 2022
- Headquarters
- Boston, United States
- Ownership
- Subsidiary of PDD Holdings Inc.
Profiles are auto-generated and infrequently updated.
Decisions on record
One verified Decision Record on Temu, and the casebook each one belongs to.
| Fork date | Decision type | The story | Casebook |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Market-Entry Gambit | Read the story → | Market-Entry Gambit Casebook → |
Run one of these yourself
The decisions Temu faced, as kits you can run.
Each pack takes one of these decisions and gives you the framework, a deck for the room, a model that resolves to one number, and the sourced cases behind it. $499, one-time.
Business ModelThe Loss LeaderWhat share of the units you sell cheap has to come back for the subsidy to be repaid?See the pack →Growth & PortfolioThe Market EntryHow fast can this actually be done?See the pack →Business ModelThe Pricing Model ChangeWhat does changing how you charge cost before it starts paying?See the pack →
The analyses
The Loss Leader · Business Model
Temu Paid You About $30 to Shop. It Was Renting a Habit on a Clock.
Temu reportedly lost around $30 on every U.S. order to win the market—roughly $588M–$954M a year. The land-grab worked because two advantages quietly subsidized it. Both are now expiring at once.
7 min
The Market-Entry Gambit · Growth & Portfolio
Temu Bought America's Attention. The Question Is Whether It Can Stop Paying Rent on It.
Temu's Super Bowl blitz looked like a brand being born. It was really a paid-acquisition treadmill — manufacturing downloads, not loyalty. Goldman pegs the loss near $6–7 an order; one supply-chain read says ~$30. Both can't be the same number, and writers keep pretending they are.
8 min
The Price Play · Business Model
Temu's Weekly U.S. Sales Fell More Than 25% Once the De Minimis Exemption Closed
Temu sold the story that cutting out the middleman made its prices unbeatable. Then the U.S. closed the de minimis duty exemption in 2025 — and Temu's weekly U.S. sales fell more than 25% year-over-year. The price advantage wasn't operational. It was regulatory.
7 min