The Chinese language e-commerce market app DHgate, which is now the No. 2 free iPhone app within the U.S., isn’t the one one which’s oddly benefiting from President Trump’s tariffs on U.S. imports from China. One other Chinese language procuring app, Taobao, has now additionally entered the Prime 5 as of Thursday.
U.S. shoppers started flocking to those apps over the previous a number of days within the wake of quite a few TikTok movies from Chinese language producers explaining how a lot of the posh items market operates out of China. The movies declare that many merchandise from high luxurious manufacturers — like clothes, purses, footwear, and equipment — are literally initially made in China. The gadgets are then shipped over to the model’s dwelling nation, like Italy or France, the place they’re repackaged after the model’s label is utilized, in accordance with these movies.
Different U.S. and Chinese language TikTok creators then pointed to e-commerce apps like DHGate and Taobao as a approach to purchase straight from the Chinese language producers, forgoing the massive markup the posh manufacturers cost.
Already cautious of the growing costs on well-liked apps like Shein and Temu, U.S. shoppers shortly started downloading these alternate options.
In April, Taobao’s estimated downloads totaled roughly 185,000 — a 514% enhance from the 30,000 it noticed throughout the identical interval final month, in accordance with new information from app intelligence supplier Appfigures. As with DHgate, Taobao’s downloads surged over this previous weekend, with installs growing 5.7x between final Friday and Saturday, the agency stated.
On Saturday, Taobao entered the Prime Total ranks on the iOS App Retailer (excluding video games) at No. 461. By Sunday, it was No. 188. And by Thursday, it reached No. 5.
The change in rank represents the expansion in app installs in addition to their velocity and different elements.
Taobao additionally grew from the No. 49 Procuring app on Saturday to turn out to be the No. 2 app, topping Walmart, Amazon, Shein, and Temu. (Chinese language app Alibaba.com can be climbing the charts right here, now the No. 6 Procuring app on the U.S. App Retailer.)
Notably, Appfigures says that Taobao has by no means been within the Prime Total charts on the U.S. App Retailer in accordance with its information, which works again to January 1, 2017.
Whereas switching procuring apps gained’t really save U.S. shoppers from tariffs on Chinese language imports, customers probably assume shopping for direct from producers might probably decrease the general value of their purchases. For different shoppers, it’s merely a technique to search out luxury-style items or dupes at a greater value.
In fact, it’s nonetheless a case of “purchaser beware” on any of those marketplaces, the place high quality could be hit and miss. Customers are inspired to learn the person sellers’ critiques and think about different consumers’ pictures of the gadgets earlier than making purchases.