Shein and Temu: Sales of Asian shopping platforms are collapsing due to the introduction of import tariffs

The new EU rules for the import of cheap goods are increasingly having an impact on foreign online retailers who recently flooded European markets with their offers. The Asian platforms Shein, Temu and AliExpress generated significantly less sales in Germany in the third quarter.

Compared to the same period last year, their revenue fell by 35.5 percent to 566 million euros, as the Federal Association of E-Commerce and Mail Order Germany (BEVH) announced. The rapid growth of Temu and fast fashion retailer Shein has stalled, said chief executive Alien Mulyk.

She cited the increase in the price of small shipments from third countries due to higher customs duties as the reason for the worse development. German retailers had previously complained that they were facing unfair competition from low-cost suppliers from Asia. “The higher taxes are having a significant impact on the low-margin, low-price products from Asia,” said Mulyk.

According to the information, the market share of the three largest Asian platforms in German online retail has fallen to 3.1 percent after previously rising sharply and reaching a record level. In the second quarter, the market share was 5.3 percent.

Online trading is slowing down

The duty-free limit of 150 euros for shipments of goods from non-EU countries was abolished in July. Since then, every shipment from third countries has been subject to customs duties. For small shipments up to 150 euros, a flat rate of three euros per product group is due. From November there will also be a processing fee of 2 euros.

With these measures, politicians want to curb the import of large quantities of cheap goods from third countries into the European market. However, this does not go far enough for the BEVH. “In order to ensure fair competition, the EU must strengthen market surveillance authorities and enforce existing laws,” says Mulyk.

Online trading in Germany lost overall momentum in the third quarter. Sales were 2.9 percent higher than in the same quarter of the previous year. Inflation is not taken into account. Between April and June the market grew by a good 5 percent. The association cited poorer consumer sentiment as the cause.