However Shein and Temu didn’t cease advertising altogether. As a substitute, each firms selected to shift their advert budgets overseas to areas the place the geopolitical dangers had been perceived to be decrease and progress alternatives extra ample. Shein spent 22 p.c of its total promoting spend within the US market throughout the second quarter, in comparison with 39 p.c within the first three months of 2025, in response to Sensor Tower. Temu’s US spend, in the meantime, went from 47 p.c to merely 9 p.c. Because of this, Shein and Temu’s gross sales in nations apart from the US, such because the UK, have surged to record highs.
However the dip didn’t final lengthy. After hitting all-time low in June, each firms started ramping again up their US advert spending in July, Shah’s information reveals. In August, Shein spent extra on advertising within the US than it did in August 2024.
The figures replicate the truth that the Chinese language platforms had discovered a brand new playbook: continue shipping products regardless of the tariffs, move some prices to customers, and keep aggressive by specializing in constructing unbiased provide chains and warehouse networks that may assist preserve transport prices down.
App retailer charts counsel that the brand new technique is working. After a quick slide in recognition earlier this 12 months, Shein and Temu had been now as soon as once more rating throughout the high 5 apps within the buying class of the US Apple App Retailer and Google Play retailer as of Wednesday.
Temu and Shein didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark from WIRED.
Behind the Curve
The massive Chinese language platforms had been getting ready for the top of de minimis for greater than a 12 months and had been capable of shortly recalibrate their logistics methods when the tariffs lastly went into impact. The identical can’t be mentioned for unbiased outlets.
Denys, the Ukrainian Etsy store proprietor, says he’s anticipating needing to lift the value of his merchandise to remain afloat. “If the brand new tariffs stay, costs will inevitably enhance by no less than that 10 p.c sooner or later,” he says.
He has just lately begun working with an area Ukrainian transport firm known as NovaPost, which stepped in to assist sellers navigate customs procedures and pledged to shoulder a part of the charge will increase for native firms. The state of affairs in Ukraine is way much less chaotic than in different elements of the world, the place many postal firms have utterly halted sending packages to the US due to ongoing confusion over the small print of Trump’s commerce insurance policies.
I feel all of us profit from having the ability to store from small distributors all over the world. Over the previous few years, I’ve bought a 3D-printed topographic map from Canada, artwork prints from Germany, and Denys’ woodwork from Ukraine. I didn’t got down to store from overseas manufacturers, however fashionable world ecommerce platforms gave me entry to a wider vary of merchandise, which had been usually bought at decrease costs than the products in close by retail shops. In need of studying carpentry myself, Denys’ Etsy store in Ukraine might be the best choice for getting reasonably priced custom-made woodwork to my house in New York Metropolis.
However with the top of de minimis, many People may select to chop again on shopping for artisanal items and different nonessential objects from overseas. If that occurs, small sellers would be the ones hit the toughest. “This largely impacts impulse shopping for after which issues we don’t want,” Juozas Kaziukėnas, an ecommerce platform analyst, instructed my colleague Boone Ashworth. “It isn’t affecting the value of milk, for instance.”
I’m nonetheless ready for my wood slats, which Denys says ought to lastly clear customs quickly. I’m hoping that companies like his are capable of survive on this new ecosystem. In any other case, I might need no selection however to take up carpentry, however who is aware of how a lot I must pay in tariffs on my new woodworking instruments?
That is an version of Zeyi Yang and Louise Matsakis’ Made in China e-newsletter. Learn earlier newsletters right here.