- Despite the recent user downturn, Temu's Super Bowl ad caused a spike in online searches.
- The e-commerce company splurged on three spots for Sunday's big game.
- The ad campaign comes as Temu seeks to capture US users and sales.
Temu made headlines Monday after its ambitious Super Bowl ad campaign sparked a flood of online inquiries about the Boston-based Chinese-owned e-commerce company.
The online discount marketplace is stepping up efforts to raise its profile among Americans amid declining user numbers and sales in recent months, airing three commercials during the big game, according to Bloomberg. did.
It cost the company a whopping $7 million to get a 30-second spot in Sunday's game.
Temu's ad featured animated characters who use the app to change their lives to the tune of a catchy jingle. This marketing campaign made viewers feel – somewhat strangely – like a billionaire, as the ad's avatar had his $10 toaster at home loaded up with his $6 skateboard. “Shopping” (a decidedly un-billionaire-like move).
According to CNN, the company splurged on three ads during the game and two after the game, and also offered $15 million in giveaways and coupons as part of its Super Bowl promotion. However, Bloomberg reported that a total of six ads were run.
Representatives for Temu did not immediately respond to Business Insider's questions or requests for comment.
The company is known for its super-cheap online marketplace that offers low prices and great deals on everything from apparel to home goods, and officially launched in the U.S. in September 2022 before making its advertising debut during last year's Super Bowl. Ta.
But while Temu experienced significant growth in 2023, it has started to lose some of its numbers among U.S. users in recent months, according to Bloomberg.
Temu's observed sales fell 12.5% month over month in December and 4.8% in January, according to data from Bloomberg Second Measure, which tracks a subset of U.S. credit and debit card transactions. Overall, the company's U.S. retail sales increased in December, the outlet reported.
The number of Temu users in the US is also on the decline, according to data from Second Measure, and a recent Morgan Stanley survey found that nearly one-third of current Temu users intend to reduce their use of the app in the near future. Bloomberg reported that this has been suggested.
Online searches for the company have also been steadily declining since July, according to Google Trends.
Temu suffers from low customer satisfaction due to reported long delivery times. The company's Better Business Bureau rating currently stands at just 2.5 stars, and a Congressional report last summer also found that Tem's supply chain was highly likely to use forced labor. is denied.
But Sunday's ad campaign may already be helping Teme regain some of its early success in the United States. According to Google Trends, web searches soared during the company's advertising, and USA Today said the Temu app ranked second among Apple's most downloaded free apps on Monday.
But Temu's biggest win was Sunday's ad, which got the company back on track with correct pronunciation, teaching viewers to emphasize the “te” in “temu” compared to the previous pronunciation of “temu.” That's probably true.
