55% of Canadians have shopped at Temu, Shein, or other Chinese marketplaces in the past year, 1 in 10 shop there at least once a week

Only 3.5% of respondents said they trust Temu, but this doesn’t stop them from shopping on the platform

The ecommerce marketing company Omnisend surveyed 1,000 Canadian citizens and found that Chinese marketplaces are gaining popularity in Canada. Temu (known to 65% of the Canadian population) and Shein (49%) are the most popular in the category.

Around 55% of Canadians have shopped in Chinese marketplaces in the past year, and 42% shopped in more than one marketplace. 39% of Canadians who shop online have bought something from Temu, 35% from Shein, and 30% from AliExpress.

The most popular items to buy are adult clothes from Shein (56%), household items from Temu (35%), and accessories and beauty products from AliExpress (25%).

“Only a year has passed since Temu was launched in Canada and it is now the sixth most popular ecommerce platform in the country, according to our survey, approaching the awareness level that other more established platforms, such as Amazon, have been building for decades. The Temu phenomenon has also brought other Chinese marketplaces to light, creating serious competition to local brands because of their cheap pricing,” says Greg Zakowicz, senior ecommerce expert at Omnisend.

“In fact, around 17% of Canadians say that they see Temu as the main competitor for Amazon. While 96% of respondents state they don’t trust Temu, it seems that this doesn’t stop them from shopping on the Chinese-owned platform.”

Temu vs Amazon. What do consumers like and dislike?

When asked to evaluate their experience at Amazon, Canadians rate it an average of 8.4 out of 10. They say they appreciate Amazon’s fast delivery (63%), good pricing (59%), and ease to buy online (56%)).

Those Canadians who dislike Amazon say that it’s too expensive (42%), lacks local goods (20%), and special deals(18%).

When asked about Temu, Canadians rate it lower — 6.6 out of 10. The things that annoy Temu’s customers are poor quality (27%), long delivery times (25%), and lack of local goods (17%).

32% of respondents said that they like Temu because of its wide assortment, 52% mentioned low prices, and 30% said that they find the process of shopping very easy.

“The impression of the consumer differs from person to person. What may seem like a long delivery time for one person, may be totally reasonable for another. Our survey showed that around 30% of respondents are willing to wait more than a week for their package, and one in ten would even be willing to wait more than two weeks,” says Greg Zakowicz. “However, for some people (21% of Canadian respondents), even three days is too long.”

The survey showed that many consumers choose Amazon when they want to buy clothes,  electronics, and household items. Temu is a much less popular option for electronics, but it is also popular for buying clothes and household items.

Ladies rate at Chinese marketplaces higher than men

Of all the Canadian women surveyed, 39% say they have shopped at Temu, 50% at Shein, and 25% at AliExpress. Men shop at Temu similarly to women  (40%) however, only 28% of them shopped at Shein. Aliexpress, on the other hand, is much more popular among men – 36% shopped at AliExpress.

However, women women rate Chinese marketplaces more favorably than men.

What can Canadian businesses do to compete with Chinese marketplaces?

“Our survey showed that consumers already see  Amazon’s prices as too expensive compared to Chinese marketplaces. However, Amazon is available to compete because of its reputation and fast delivery. Competing with Chinese marketplaces can be much more complicated for smaller brands with their own ecommerce shops,” says Greg Zakowicz, senior ecommerce expert at Omnisend.

Because SMBs don’t have big teams and budgets to compete with Chinese ecommerce platforms, Zakowicz recommends smaller businesses use marketing tools designed specifically for ecommerce needs. Omnichannel marketing platforms can help businesses manage all of their marketing actions (emails, SMS, push notifications, reviews, and more) in one place. This helps smaller businesses save both time and money. 

Method

The survey was commissioned by Omnisend and conducted by Cint in April 2024. A total of 4,000 respondents were surveyed across 4 countries. Quotas were placed on age, gender, and place of residence to achieve a nationally representative sample among users.