A typical shopping experience on the online shopping app Temu might involve ordering a dozen items for around $30. These could range from $3 socks to $8 earbuds. The platform has quickly built a reputation as the digital destination for flash sales and bargain hunting. Of course, the question that follows from such low prices is: Are these products any good? To answer this question, thousands of influencers have taken to social channels like TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter to explain their “Temu hauls” to viewers.
A Temu haul comes in the form of the company’s distinctive large orange bags or boxes full of budget-friendly items, from jewelry and clothes to tech gadgets and car parts. The shopper, usually an influencer with thousands — or hundreds of thousands — of followers, reveals each item, describes its quality, and highlights just how inexpensive it was.
These videos have caught on as a way of helping shoppers figure out just what kind of quality they can expect from Temu. The general response has been positive, with videos continuing to spring up and influencers often pleasantly surprised that these inexpensive items tend to arrive as advertised.
This phenomenon is part of a larger trend of influencers building on the popularity of new e-commerce apps and generating social media traffic. They’re using social platforms to both form partnerships with these sites and brands and speak to their viewers’ curiosity about just how quality items could be sold at such low prices.
Why Influencers Post Temu Hauls
Shopping hauls enable influencers to connect with brands and answer their followers' questions about the quality of a product. They can also explain how a shopping platform works and delve into their own experience of using an app to shop. Influencers use shopping hauls to promote products and brands that they have established partnerships with and that they think their followers will enjoy. The goal is to build trust and rapport with followers and generate increased sales for the brands with a more genuine promotional approach.
For fans of these influencers, it can be exciting to see what new products they’ve found, and it can be helpful to get an honest opinion on whether or not a product is worth buying. Shopping hauls help viewers learn about new brands and products that they might not have heard of before. Influencers are usually seen as opinion leaders in their respective niches, be it fashion, beauty, DIY crafting, or lifestyle. Haul videos provide a platform for influencers to showcase their expertise and knowledge about the products they've purchased.
These videos generate a lot of traffic on social media platforms like TikTok and YouTube (News - Alert), with some reaching hundreds of thousands of views. A recent video made by popular influencer TheCraftyDIYGuy has over 215,000 views on YouTube. It features reviews of 30 items representing a range of Temu’s product categories, including home decor, fashion, men’s jewelry, automotive supplies, and kitchen accessories.
“Temu did reach out to me and asked if I would partner with them on this video today and they wanted me to share some of their products and of course I jumped at the chance and said yes,” explained TheCraftyDIYGuy in his haul video. “This is probably one of my most organized hauls ever. If you see something you like, you can go right to my description box and order it directly now with Temu.”
This candid explanation makes the influencer haul strategy clear. It’s established from the start that there’s a partnership with the platform, but to maintain a loyal following, influencers need to remain genuine and give their honest opinion on the products. In some ways, these haul videos function as a traditional celebrity endorsement would. However, instead of partnering with a massive star and trying to reach millions of people at once, brands team up with several influencers and reach thousands of their followers at a time. It’s a more diversified approach that enables platforms like Temu to reach niche audiences in a way that would be difficult using traditional advertising channels.
A recent report by business intelligence company Morning Consult, which was based on survey responses from 2,000 respondents aged 13 to 38, found that half of millennials said they trust influencers’ product recommendations, compared to 38% who said they trust celebrities.
Influencers and E-Commerce
The number of people seeking careers or side hustles as influencers has skyrocketed in recent years. The report found that 86% of young people wanted to try influencing on their social channels, with 12% already considering themselves to be influencers and 20% reporting that they know at least one influencer personally.
At the same time, e-commerce continues to grow and isn’t expected to stop anytime soon. Market researchers Insider Intelligence expects the sector to grow by double digits in 2023 to reach $1.148 trillion.
The percentage of consumers who start their online shopping experience on social media channels is also projected to increase, reaching 19% for TikTok, 19% for Instagram, 20% for Facebook (News - Alert), and 25% for YouTube.
This confluence of changing factors in retail and social media suggests that Temu’s business model could continue to see success. With more influencers using haul videos to reach niche audiences, there’s plenty of room for growth for the platform, and it’s reaching broader audiences at the same time, even airing a Super Bowl ad in February 2023. The company has also actively pursued international expansion. After its initial launch in the U.S., it’s since expanded to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. As Temu enters its second year of operations this fall, its growth trajectory and general industry trends suggest that it will continue to play a role in a fast-evolving e-commerce sector.
