Still, the gaming elements could drive consumers to part with their money unwisely. “I don’t think people would spend all day, every day on Temu… but like gambling, shopping is a commercial activity and even if you’re not spending great amounts of time, you might be going beyond your disposable income,” he says.
Addiction or not, a steady drip-feed of these marketing tactics can have a lasting effect. Luring consumers with the promise of free gifts, “[Temu] then kind of takes you down a spiral”, says Griffiths, and many consumers share anecdotally there always seems to be one last hurdle before the promised reward, such as referring more friends.
Is the genie out of the bottle?
If consumers are so drawn to these types of marketing approaches, other brands may be tempted to adopt them, too – or even feel like they have no choice if they want to compete with the behemoth that is Temu. Yet even if they do take a similar approach – integrating gamified shopping and rock-bottom prices – it doesn’t guarantee success.
In fact, say experts, Temu may be impossible to compete with, mostly due to its business model. First, Temu is able to offer such low prices because they’re betting on a long-term strategy of operating at a loss in order to scale to the point that they squeeze out nearly all competition.
