In 2024 ChinaTalk’s Ed Sander had the honour and pleasure to be invited to present his keynote ‘Temu Demystified’ at various events. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and the presentation has been described as an eye-opener. We’re happy that we have been able to share some of the insights from Ed’s research on Temu for Tech Buzz China with these audiences. You can find some photo’s and comments from participants below.
Score! (Zürich), Otto (online), K5 Future Retail (Berlin), Becom (Mechelen), Neuland Fachtag (Bremen), RetailTrends (Leusden).
Score! – Zürich, Switzerland
“The challenges in the various industries are enormous. This was also shown to us by the exciting keynote by Ed Sander about Temu. Burying your head in the sand is certainly not the right answer. Knowing the “enemy” is all the more important.”
- Score!
“My absolute highlight? The inspiring keynote about Temu! Ed Sander, China Digital Tech Researcher and Co-Founder of ChinaTalk, shed light on the topic of “Temu demystified”.”
- Aldo Gnocchi
“Particularly impressed by Ed Sander’s insightful keynote “Temu demystified”.”
- Laura Frischke
“THX for coming to Zürich and sharing your really interesting insights of Temu.”
- Malte Polzin
“Ed Sander really explained how Temu works and cleared up myths (which I also believed). It’s crazy how much e-commerce power comes from China and simply overwhelms us. I will certainly follow him on various channels to learn even more about the “enemy” and hopefully improve my know-how accordingly.”
- Samuel Wyss
“What is particularly exciting is what comes from China. And here Ed Sander is precisely the one who can best explain the phenomenon of Temu, according to the motto “Know your enemy”.”
- Exciting Commerce
“My highlights: the keynote “Demystifying Temu” by Ed Sander, who gave an insight into Temu’s strategy and business models, and why they work. A must for every retailer!”
- Valentin Spinnler
“Mindblowing keynote by Ed Sander at Score conference. How does the Temu business model work and what is their massive growth and international expansion background?”
- Patrick Stephan
“Top speaker lineup. My personal highlights: Georges K. (Breitling) on the topic of “Leadership in Neo Luxury”, Ed Sander with red-hot facts on Temu and Valerie Dichtl, who spoke about marketplace strategies for Swiss retailers.”
- Laura Kremer
Otto Group – Online Webinar
“Last week, we had an exciting exchange on the topic of Chinese big players during our top management meeting of the purchasing managers as part of the Otto Group’s BestPracticeProgram. A big thank you to Ed Sander, who provided us with many new insights and facts about Temu and Shein through his very informative keynote. Inspiration and concrete knowledge that move us all forward!”
- Juliane Dieckmann, Otto Group
Becom – Mechelen, Belgium
“Educational, eye-opening speakers like Ed Sander.”
- Thomas De Ganck
“Top presentation: China Talk by Ed Sander. Unfortunately, what he says is reality.”
- Mike Boon
“It all started with Ed Sander’s Keynote, which literally (it was still early) and figuratively opened my eyes. I will never talk about or look at Chinese e-commerce like Shein and Temu the same way again. He showed that nothing is separate and the role of the West should not be forgotten. But especially that we still know so little about the East.”
- Kyra Bulinckx
“My key learnings from yesterday’s Becom summit were: “Know both your enemy and yourself; you will not be in danger for a hundred battles,” Ed Sander said while discussing the rise of Chinese E-commerce platforms.”
- Bram Vromans
K5 Future of Retail – Berlin, Germany
“Temu and Chinese e-commerce deep dive from Ed Sander and it was so worth it. Really eye-opening and stepping back from obviously main stream thinking. Get in touch with him on chinatalk.nl.”
- Gunnar Gamer
“Ed Sander drew a new and more complete picture of China for me in his Demystifying Temu Talk. Many dark patterns, a lot of “paid engagement” are the drivers for high eyeball times in the PDD apps. And in the end, as always, the question is: price and dopamine rush vs. asking yourself whether “consumerism” is the panacea.”
- Malte Breuer
“A particularly exciting highlight for me was Ed Sander with his talk about Temu and the associated backgrounds and mechanisms. What many people from the world of furniture and household appliances may not have heard: it is precisely into these segments that the range is to be expanded in the near future. A long way in several respects? Maybe. But I can only share the recommendation to take a closer look.”
- Sebastian Kiefer
“Ed Sander offered impressive insights into Temu: How did the ecosystem come into being, and how does it work? Why can they offer so cheaply and still have no inventory risk? And how does the journey continue? All questions answered top. Thank you for that!”
- Gartner Michael
“There has been a lot of talk about “Key Take-Aways”, so here are my (very personal) Top 3: 1. Temu will not disappear anymore (Thank you Ed Sander for your great insights) (..)”
- Mischa Wolfframm
“My highlights: Very exciting and incredibly entertaining Temu lecture by Ed Sander. (..)”
- Kristina Mertens
“Here are my highlights: A look at China: The look behind the scenes of the Asian mega-players Temu, Pinduoduo & Co., how they are set up and their technical mechanisms, was really insightful. (..)”
- Kristin Munzert
“Your talk was one of the most if not THE most inspiring I listened to in the last year!”
- Swen Schollenbruch
“I was at the K5 – Future Retail in Berlin this week and my highlight was by far the lecture by Ed Sander about Temu!”
- Dr. Andreas Seegers
“Ed Sander was impressively rocking the K5 – Future Retail stage with background knowledge and clear facts about Temu. Everyone who stills ignore the power and success will soon be surprised what what else they are capable of. While we think, they do.”
- Katrin Etringer
“Here are my personal highlights: 1. Temu: An emerging power – Ed Sander impressively showed how Temu wants to conquer the global market. Its innovative approach and aggressive growth strategy impressed many participants. (..)”
- Mathias Klee
“Ed Sander: The price analysis of an almost identical product on various platforms such as Amazon, SHEIN, Temu and Pinduoduo was particularly revealing. Conclusion: The price multiplies by a factor of 14(!) depending on the platform.”
- Benjamin Bunte
Neuland Fachtag
The start with Ed Sander and his view of Temu and Pinduoduo, how Chinese players are changing the market and at what speed was particularly exciting. Breathtaking. Here it is important to keep eyes open and not close them.
- Florian Rudolph
A highlight was Ed Sander’s lecture on Temu and Pinduoduo – a radical strategy for internationalization that impressively shows how resolutely new markets can be conquered. But how sustainable is such an expansion? Ed has worked out in a differentiated way why it is important to take a critical look at business models – whether to adapt them or consciously reject them. Temu’s ambitious goal: from zero to number two behind Amazon in the USA and even number one in the European markets. Impressive, or scary?
- Toralf Feuchtenhofer
The symposium started directly with a firecracker: Ed Sander’s keynote about Temu. Sometimes I like to be put on my aluminum hat here to talk about fake news, but Ed’s words were a real eye-opener. Temu/Pinduoduo has clear ambitions to conquer the European market and challenge Amazon.
And that should be a wake-up call for us in the e-com world! Amazon may be keeping an eye on developments, but are the rest of us just as prepared? Or do we succumb to the same arrogance that we see when some people are quick to dismiss Donald Trump as irrelevant? In any case, it wouldn’t be the first time that we wonder later. Better be prepared…
- Dr. Laura Schramm
A highlight was the keynote speech by Ed Sander. He took us into the world of Temu and showed us in a very impressive way that we should slowly (or rather quickly) come to react faster and more courageously to changes and dare to do something to bind customers, instead of watching the success of the Chinese as if paralyzed complaining about injustices. China will always stay one step ahead of us, customers will continue to migrate to the Chinese competition and we will be left behind.
Thank you, Ed, for this very great and lively presentation and that you also took the time afterwards to calm down a bit with your know-how on China, my thought ping-pong, between enthusiasm for China’s great innovative power and implementation strength and my uncertainty about the Chinese system. I’m looking forward to more!
- Stephanie Murroni
RetailTrends – What’s Next in Retail Tech
Today, Ed Sander brings a clear message during “What’s Next In Retail Tech”: Don’t be blinded by Silicon Valley, the real danger for disruption in Dutch Retail comes from China. Substantiated with very impressive figures from Temu and TikTok Shop, among others.
According to Ed, Temu invests €3 billion per year in marketing to conquer the Western (EU, US) markets. As a result, it is on track for a turnover of 150 billion in 2027. And that with an average order value of less than €35.
- Sander Berlinski
Interesting keynotes, especially Ed Sander about Temu!
- Justus Slaakweg
While the retail world often looks to the USA for trends, we should also be looking at China. Ed Sander, an expert in China’s retail landscape, highlighted the growing impact of players like Temu and Shein. Temu’s goal? To be the #2 in the U.S. (after Amazon) and the #1 in Europe. So, how can European retailers stand out? Compete on speed, unique offerings, and exceptional service. Forget trying to win on price—that’s not a battle you’ll win against these Chinese powerhouses.
- Anneke Veldink
