The Problem with TEMU | Fast Decor

hi everyone it's Nick welcome and welcome back to my channel okay today we are going to be talking about Teemu which is the e-commerce fast Decor fast fashion fast everything online Chinese retailer that is taking over the world and we're going to be talking about it in this video I'm going to be giving you some facts about what timu is so if you don't know stay tuned I will be explaining a little bit about Teemu providing some secondary research that I have I say secondary meaning the media has already reported on everything so don't sue me timu if you're watching this I'm going to Source everything I can in the description don't sue me I'm not worth your time that is basically what I'm saying I don't have any money trust me and I'm also gonna be talking about the effect that timu has had on influencer culture because I think being a content creator here that does do brand deals and has been approached by timu approximately 82 000 times I think I have a lot to say on that because I'm in a unique position to weigh in on that a little bit and I'm going to be talking about sort of the challenges that timu has maybe some counterpoints about to defend T move for a little bit and then provide my opinion so let's get into it let's talk all about Teemu okay so first what is Teemu okay so t emu is a Chinese company it is owned by a Chinese company but it is technically headquartered in Boston which sure just like a lot of places are headquartered in the Cayman Islands you know what I mean like it's like headquartered in Boston but like is it really it's a Chinese company let's be honest it is an e-commerce company it is an e-commerce Marketplace it is oftentimes compared with Sheen uh if you have heard of shine she and whatever it's called they are mostly fashion while Teemu does do fashion but it also does home decor and lots of other pieces and that's why I want to touch on this video because I talk about interior design and home decor and timu is sort of a part of that story as well as just fast Decor in general so it's oftentimes compared Sheen is actually they have relationships directly with manufacturers so they will be more like h m or like Zara as opposed to timu which is more like Amazon it's a Marketplace and that sort of does matter because I think that timu tends to hide behind the fact that it's a Marketplace a little bit as a way to protect itself saying we're not responsible for what's on our platform which is sort of can I just say really annoying that a lot of these tech companies are doing now is just not taking any responsibility because you know looking at you meta and maybe even Google or maybe even YouTube hi hi right we don't take responsibility for the stuff that's actually on our platform because for just a platform so like we can't be held responsible even though we make billions of dollars so whatever that's a little bit of my own little side uh story there so I feel like with some of the issues we're gonna be talking about Teemu tends to hide around the fact that they're a Marketplace so therefore not responsible for what people are doing on their platform it's really also interesting to note that one of the loopholes we're going to be talking about that chimu sort of sort of uses and Sheehan does as well is this idea that when goods are headed directly into the United States imported in if they're under 800 they actually don't necessarily need to be sort of inspected and paying duties and Customs so that is really interesting and I'm going to touch on that a little bit more in depth in a second here because it means that they don't have to pay duties that even the likes of like a Walmart or a regular sort of us-based retailer would have to do where typically the model is taking these large shipments from Asia bringing them in to the United States paying duties and customs and all those different things and the and inspections and all those sorts of things and then shipping it to their warehouses and distributing to the retail stores that's the typical model but timu and Xi'an ship directly from China to you so yes it takes a little bit longer to get to you but no matter where you live in the United States they will offer free shipping and they will send directly from China to you therefore that package being under the 800 means it doesn't have to be inspected it also means that it doesn't have to pay the same duties and Customs as the other sort of typical retailers would which is interesting it also means that this has blown up and it's been absolutely crazy so it's estimated that 30 30 of all packages under this 800 threshold entering the United States are from these two companies from Xi'an and timu that's mind-blowing to me that a third of the packages under 800 entering the country are coming from these same two retailers that gives you an idea of the size and scale of these companies and Teemu again apparently is bigger than Xi'an that's crazy to me and that 30 works out to be about 600 000 packages entering the United States daily which is insane and chimu sells everything that you would maybe expect on Amazon or any sort of retailer it's a lot of it feels a little wish.com for me I'm not gonna lie but it sells a lot of maybe perhaps useful things little plastic organizers things that are insanely cheap to the point where you kind of go something's got to give here how are you able to ship this from China to the United States and you're shipping something with free shipping and it's literally six dollars it doesn't make a whole lot of sense and we're going to talk about why yeah this just gives you the idea and they sell everything they sell everything from some Decor pieces to name-ish Brand Products to all sorts of different Goods that are available on tmu Sheen again is really we're talking clothing there Teemu though is the works and a lot of it is the home stuff that I talk about here on my channel okay so next that's timu let's talk about the influencer effect because the influencers and content creators myself included hi hi there timu you email me all the time so probably not anymore though content creators and influencers have had a massive effect on these two companies specifically and I will say what can I say do you want to get sued I will say I get approached by chumu all the time and it is understood in the industry because timu probably pays quite above Market or maybe pays quite well let's say that it's a really important source of revenue for a lot of creators and I think it's important not to forget that so I will say that at the end of the day it's the responsibility of every influencer and every Creator to stand behind the products to see some value in what they're trying to create to be comfortable for themselves to be comfortable with whatever they're promoting and that can be really tough because some things are on the line and you're kind of like well I don't necessarily love it but I could see my audience really loving it so maybe that makes a little bit more sense for me some people are really strict with this some people are not and again you as a Creator as an influencer you need to stand behind the stuff that you promote you can't lose the trust of your audience that's the whole reason why you're here at the end of the day but I will add as a person who does this for a living for a hot second forgive me bear with me we don't necessarily always have the opportunities that you might think that we would it's not like every brand is throwing stuff at you 24 7. and bills have to get paid you have editors you have managers agents whatever you actually have people behind the scenes new equipment whatever right you have stuff that you need to pay for it's a business at the end of the day and so you do need to take a look at what you feel comfortable with and that's not always easy I'd also like to point out it is a privilege to say no you say that again it's a privilege to say no and I think that's something that I always try to remember when I look at what other content creators are choosing to promote like as an example let's say you got two influencers they're both like 35 year old women okay let's just say influencer one her husband is an anesthesiologist who makes like a half a million bucks a year okay well she maybe doesn't have to take a brand deal because she's privileged enough to be able to say no and let's say meanwhile you've got another single mom who has three kids and she's got to pay rent at the end of the month okay well she might be in a position where she has to take a brand deal that she's maybe not a thousand percent comfortable with but it's just sort of the way that it is and I would just say that although both influencers should be held accountable for what they do let's also not forget there's people behind this and they have different circumstances that are leading them to sort of take the deals that they have and I know that's going to come across to some of you as I'm defending people for endorsing really crappy things well you know that's your interpretation I'm just saying I'm trying to have empathy for different perspectives around this issue okay so let's talk about timu and some of the problems that I see and again a lot of this is based on secondary research please don't sue me first of all let's talk about the environmental impact right which is just that both in terms of shipping and the effects necessarily of sort of shipping 600 000 packages into the United States every single day as opposed to potentially what could be a more efficient way of moving Goods but also really just the nature of incredibly cheap products especially in the area of Decor so it's one thing to have sort of there's there's a conversation around single use single-use plastics for example but then even just cheap items that are clearly designed to break or even products that but our Decor pieces that are not designed to last these are items that are incredibly trendy these are items that will pop up be popular for about five minutes and then they will be disposed often end up in landfills I think it's really important that we sort of address that now I'm not saying all of teemu's goods are that way there can be some that are actually quality pieces I don't really know I've honestly never purchased from them full disclosure but I would still say that there could be some quality pieces there but a lot of these pieces feel very cheaply made and designed to be disposable and so I think there is an important conversation to be having around the environmental cost because really what we're doing is we're externalizing the cost so what I mean by that is you might pay four dollars for something that might be twenty dollars at sort of a regular department store or something you might pay four dollars for it on timu but there are significant environmental costs and maybe even labor costs I'm going to talk about in a second that you're not purchasing do you know what I mean like you're not paying the cost for that others are that's designed right into the system so timu was able to offer those prices partly because of the cost that it might take to actually add additional layers of cost to say you know care about the environment and building things that are actually going to last for people that type of cost isn't born actually into the price that you're paying when you shop at tmu so for some of their products maybe some of them are great I'm not saying they're necessarily all bad I am just saying though that there are some pieces that are so obviously cheap that there must be in my opinion some things going on specifically around areas like the environment that are making it that cheap if it looks too good to be true it probably is it's also estimated that fast fashion alone counts for 10 of all greenhouse gas emissions which is quite an insane number to be honest and that is just on Fast fashion so I think that fast fashion has been in the conversation for a long time I think fast to core has not had as much time to be discussed and it really should be and I think especially with the pandemic where people started spending a lot more time in on their homes they started showing off their homes a lot more part of the reason I have a job let's be honest but I think what it also did is encourage people to change their homes quickly and it gets featured quickly and kind of like the way that fashion constantly turns around the trends in interior design is also moving a lot quicker than they ever were in the past people are choosing to buy less sort of Timeless classic pieces and more trendy pieces that they've seen on Tick Tock that are obviously disposable and they're designed that way and they can be fun for five minutes but in other people get sick of them they check them out and they buy new and that's really I think a lot of these fast Decor retailers which I would include Teemu in they're quite problematic in that way because they're encouraging that behavior it doesn't let the people that are paying a part in those Trends off the hook completely but it does mean that they are enabling and contributing sort of to that conversation okay the next thing I want to talk about here is around forced labor now Teemu does have a code of conduct on their website they do have some information there but other sources uh specifically the US government is questioning the team who is necessarily following all of these the legislation around forced labor and specifically looking in parts of China where there is allegedly forced labor that is being conducted and timu being a Marketplace sort of is able to have whoever perhaps is on their website and that can be a challenge for them because those inspections aren't necessarily happening especially that kind of 800 limit that I talked about earlier where packages entering the United States that are under that dollar amount don't necessarily have to undergo the same inspection as they would if they went through the traditional supply chain that's concerning because that means that those inspections potentially are not being done here's a documentation from the US government I'm going to link it all down below but they have said that American consumers should know that there is an extremely high risk that tmu's Supply chains are contaminated with forced labor which is from the house select committee on the Chinese Communist party set in this report it said the company requires suppliers to agree to a code of conduct but relies on third parties to flag problems describing the process as a dubious system temu does not have any system to ensure compliance with the UF LPA this all but guarantees that shipments from Teemo containing products made with forced labor are entering the United States on a regular basis it said so does this mean that there is definitely going to to be forced labor when dealing with Goods that arrive from timu I would say that it's a you're gonna have to make your own decision let's just say that but I would say there are definitely concerns that have been flagged and those concerns a problem and need to be addressed and I again I I think that a Marketplace system where you are relying on small sort of independent players to jump in and choose their own sort of path in terms of how they want to conduct themselves yes you might have a code of conduct but it's important that when you're dealing with this scale and size in a year there's a company that's been around for a year okay people have they necessarily done the thorough due diligence with every single supplier that is on their website maybe that is up for you to decide or is this a little bit of a gray area that is intentionally gray in order to skirt around some legislation that is really really important in order to ensure that there are proper labor practices being conducted through these different suppliers that's enough for me to not want to personally jump pain and put my endorsement behind timu personally another interesting one that I think is worth mentioning is also copyright infringement people there have been reports Wired Magazine did a report where they talked about how Amazon sellers so this is people that are operating on Amazon and have you know their own suppliers and whatever that they're selling on Amazon's platform which we'll discuss Amazon in a second and these people have reported that their descriptions products photos whatever have been completely taken off of Amazon and ripped off their entire store and put them over on Teemu and selling them at a cheaper price so that's an issue as well as I mean I've heard people that Teemu has said that they have try or they are trying to crack down on copyrighted or trademarked goods and items to appear on their website I think that that's interesting only because it took me about two two and a half minutes to find some Goods that were obvious knockoffs of name brand products so you know if you are a small retailer that is trying to make a go or even a large retailer that is trying to protect your trademark or you know whatever your copyright whatever you've got going on remember it doesn't take long to be able to find the knockoffs over on tmu's website so I personally just through my own clicking through the website again two and a half minutes doesn't take long for you to find some knockoffs on chemo so I'm not really sure that this is something that they're closely monitoring let's say that another challenge that a lot of people find that is going to lead me into my next section too is around privacy so it is really important that although the company says that they are headquartered in Boston again doesn't take long for you to follow up the chain and realize that this is very much a chinese-owned company so some people have concerns around privacy obviously the whole Tick Tock versus Instagram meta YouTube whatever conversation has been around for a while and there are issues or the US government especially has been very vocal about flagging issues around privacy of giving your information of what you're buying what you're shopping whatever to a Chinese website some of that could be overblown and we're going to get to that in a second but that's up to you that for some people is a massive concern some people don't even shop online because they don't like to give their credit card into a website which fine but you know that is a concern that that is something just to be aware of is that people are flagging privacy as a concern specifically because this is a Chinese owned company that's not to say that meta is not selling your data as well I mean Hello obviously but something to be aware of okay but I will say in defensive teamu for a second sometimes I think it is also really important to acknowledge that some of the charges against timu can almost feel a little bit xenophobic and can in my personal opinion sort of have this idea American company good Chinese company bad and again some of that is wrapped just into the politics of it all and the privacy issues and I totally get that but also you know it can feel xenophobic borderline racist sometimes to be able to just go after this company specifically when I think we should also not forget that not all American companies are good actors like I mentioned around privacy meta sells your data let's be honest YouTube sells your data Google sells your data like that's just how this works they sell it to advertising this whole business model right that's the whole show let's not forget that and I think it's really important that yes there are some real legitimate concerns it does not let timu off the hook there are all those concerns that I just talked about super super valid but also there's concerns around fast Decor when it comes to other Western companies as well right I noticed that when I did a video on h m or Zara I had so many comments from people saying don't support them Nick fast fashion is awful it's killing the world blah blah blah blah totally but I would actually argue a lot of the pieces that I talk about h m and Sr are actually high quality pieces that you can have for years and years while Ikea interestingly enough I don't know if it's got that Swedish Halo they got to be lovely people they wouldn't ever do anything wrong Ikea tends to get off the hook a lot and I don't get a lot of comments saying that Ikea is evil and I'm not saying they are either but I am saying that I've bought some Ikea pieces that are not particularly going to last me forever and ever and ever whether they will break and actually fall apart or whether they're just gonna chip and look really bad in six months or so um and then I've had some pieces from h m and Zara that are like real marble or real Walnut or they're actually really good quality pieces now on the fashion side that that's going to fall apart in like 30 seconds as soon as you leave the store and wear it once right so I get you there but a lot of the decor pieces are actually really a little bit higher end I would say that h m and Zara are not the same fast to core players as Teemu or even Ikea to be honest with you or Walmart or Target so you know I think that's important to also consider is that Western companies aren't completely off the hook either and it's important that we hold everybody accountable for things like forced labor caring about the environment some of the basics that we demand of these companies and I think that's really important to do so there is some xenophobia sort of wrapped into this conversation and obviously there's like politics way above my page right around the US versus China that I am I'm Canadian I'm not here to sit and chat about that but that's clearly also involved in this conversation and I think that um you know it's important to kind of be critical of all sources even me you should be critical of me you should be critical of your governments you should be critical of the Chinese government you should be critical of Teemu we should all think critically around these issues and move forward from there that's what I'm saying Okay so let's now wrap this up this is a lot of it's a documentary I don't realize it's a TV documentary here you know let's talk about my thoughts I'm going to give you some final thoughts on where I am so as an influencer or a content creator whatever the heck my job is I don't know I sit here in my room and I talk about interior design who knows what I do this is a brand that I didn't feel comfortable promoting and they have approached me many times they probably will not anymore or they won't watch this video and therefore they will still email me hi timu that's possible but it's not a brand that I felt comfortable endorsing but I also don't necessarily slam influencers that did work with them because every influencer every content creator has to do right by themselves they're in different circumstances like I said I don't feel comfortable promoting them I also don't really feel comfortable shopping there and that's often because I have the means to be able to like not shop there and I think that's a really important point that I want to finish off on I think that the real challenge here this is I don't get political I'm not here to get political I'm not Democrat I'm not Republican as I said I'm Canadian do not get me involved in your politics okay this I do not want in that comment section but in my personal opinion the big problem is is wage inequality that's really the root of this bear with me because you know here's a chart that I think explains a lot of the challenges that we have in the world right now and this is again not really me this is me reaching Beyond a little bit of me just talking about silly things about interior design but you know we have seen productivity in the United States grow since 1973 but that has not been reflected in people's wages and I think this has caused a bit of a haves and have-not situation that has led luxury retail like Louis Vuitton and the like to absolutely explode and take off over the last several years and is going to probably continue to do so it also gives space to these retailers to make people feel like this is the only option they have to be able to participate in the economy and participate in Trends and do things that they want to do right like and I feel bad as a as a content creator I also talk about Trends and I talk about products and I talk about things and I'm also very aware of the fact that people can't afford sometimes the things that I talk about and so I try to keep it accessible but that's a challenge when I know that there are people that are really genuinely struggling and Teemu is the option for them so I don't want to necessarily say that people that shop at temu or shop at wall Walmart or Target or whatever and buy all the dupes and whatever it makes sense and it makes sense because the incomes haven't kept up with productivity and they haven't kept up with price inflation so they're in a position where we've created this Elite group of retailers the restoration Hardwares that are selling ridiculous Furniture ridiculous prices and the T moves that are selling also ridiculous items at ridiculous prices but in the opposite direction and really I would just think that I would like to see retailers that thrive in the middle because I want to see everybody thrive in the middle and that hasn't been happening in a long time and again this is super me going way above my pay grade and speaking about things that are probably I'm ill-informed on but that's just my own personal take Teemu will continue to thrive and so will she in and so will all these retailers that are again externalizing the cost that we talked about in this video because people can't afford more and that is a a rooted problem that I think is far bigger than one retailer and they will continue to thrive in this economy because we have made no other options for other people and that to me is the real problem and I'm sorry to end on that note but that is honestly my personal opinion of why timu is growing why it will continue to do so I think it does not mean that I think as individuals we need to make a choice on what we feel comfortable with and vote with our dollars because it really does matter but at the same time we also need to have empathy and compassion for others that are also trying to just figure this out as well I'll leave it on that note thanks a lot comment let me know what you think of two Bill see you on the next video thanks bye

Channel: Nick Lewis

Views: 268,700

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Id: t_OeU4R6M-U

Length: 21min 25sec (1285 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 12 2023