If you think Temu is just cheap socks and weird gadgets, you’re missing the real story.

This is the case study in how fast commerce is mutating, faster than we can civilize it.On this week’s Ostrich Report, Hendrik and I dove deep into Temu’s European explosion, and the numbers are pure madness:

📈 24.7 million EU customers between April and August 2024. 🚀 By June 2025, that figure will hit 150 million active users. 💶 $1.2 billion in revenue from Europe alone. 💰 $120 million in profit, yes, profit, not “adjusted EBITDA.” And they did it all by flipping the script: cross-border → credibility → local integration.

They’ve gone from “that Chinese discount app” to the default shopping channel in countries like Italy and Portugal, where 92% of consumers say buying direct from manufacturers saves them money without sacrificing quality.

Let’s be honest: Europe didn’t invite Temu in, Amazon’s complacency and eBay’s nostalgia did.

While old giants debated logistics and ad margins, Temu quietly built trust through delivery, gamification, and pricing transparency. You can now buy garden furniture in Ireland and get it in four days. eBay still can’t do that.

And that’s the part that should make every retailer nervous. Because 63% of shoppers already prefer marketplaces over brand sites, and 56% of those are impulse purchases. If you’re not there when the urge strikes, someone else is.

Meanwhile, brands selling on 3+ marketplaces grow 4.5x faster than those that don’t. That’s not cannibalization, that’s new money.

But here’s the uncomfortable question:

What happens when the most efficient marketplace on earth is also the least politically palatable?

Geopolitics will decide as much as strategy here. In the Nordics, 3 in 4 consumers say Temu increases price transparency. In the US, regulators call it a data Trojan horse. Both can be true.

So what do we do, block it, beat it, or learn from it?

Because whether you love or loathe Temu, you can’t deny one thing: It’s teaching the West a painful lesson, speed, simplicity, and scale still win.

And if Europe is the battleground for trust and convenience, Temu just showed up with the biggest army we’ve ever seen.

🎙 Full episode now live: “Orange Is the New Commerce”, Hendrik and I unpack how Temu pulled off the fastest retail land grab since Amazon Prime.

💬 Question for you: If Temu can win consumer trust this quickly, what excuse do Western marketplaces have left?