Chinese e-commerce firms are launching aggressive campaigns in the European market with ad spending up by as much as 70%. In May, Chinese e-commerce platforms Shein and Temu launched more intense marketing campaigns in Europe amid lingering uncertainties in trade between China and the United States. Compared to April, Shein and Temu both increased advertising spending on the continent – recording a 40% and 30% jump respectively over the first twelve days of May, according to Sensor Tower, a market intelligence firm. Year-on-year, Shein’s advertising spending in Europe surged by 70% over the same period. The biggest jump was in the United Kingdom, with a 135% rise. While Temu’s total advertising spending in Europe did not increase as substantially as Shein’s over the same period, it was rising by 40% in France.
Chinese cross-border e-commerce platforms have adopted strategies similar to those they used to expand in the U.S. market. For example, Temu spent millions of dollars on its Super Bowl advertisement in 2024. Its commercial aired six times, as the firm tried to increase brand recognition among U.S. consumers. The approach has helped the Chinese companies to achieve broader awareness among consumers. In 2024, the Temu shopping app was downloaded 86 million times in the U.S. – the most of any e-commerce platform. However, amid ongoing trade tensions between the U.S. and China, the platforms are setting their sights on the huge European market. So far, the spending spree in Europe has not translated into an increase in actual sales, a source working at Shein said.
The aggressive marketing campaigns have also triggered negative reactions. In recent weeks, many French customers have taken to social media to air frustration at what they see as a flood of advertisements pushed to them on X, Instagram and TikTok. “You cannot block a Temu advertisement on X, it keeps coming back, it’s become quasi harassment,” Frédéric Orain, a local official in the French city of Blois, told the South China Morning Post, calling the trend an “avalanche”.
The trend poses additional challenges to Chinese e-commerce platforms looking to expand on the continent, as the EU is also tightening regulations on small parcels arriving from China. The EU currently grants tax-free entry for small packages valued at €150 or less, but many member states, led by France, have lobbied Brussels to eliminate the policy. “This cannot continue, it is scandalous that people can send parcels from China without paying taxes,” Philippe Le Corre, head of the Asia program at French business school ESSEC said. An estimated 800 million such e-commerce parcels entered France in 2024, mainly from China, according to the French Finance Ministry. EU Finance Ministers have agreed to impose taxes on some packages entering the bloc, targeting “a wider number of suppliers selling goods worth up to €150”, the European Commission said in a statement. By 2028, it plans to remove the threshold and impose duties on all parcels worth up to €150, the South China Morning Post reports.
