Temu has been blacklisted in a big way, this time from Indonesia.
The Indonesian government called on Apple and Google to remove the Temu app from their respective mobile stores, and per the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the app has been removed from both.
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Earlier in October, Indonesia banned the low-cost e-commerce player, citing it as a threat to small-to-medium-sized businesses built in Indonesia, and noting it was working to protect its consumers, Reuters reported.
“We’re not here to protect e-commerce, but we protect small and medium enterprises. There are millions we must protect,” Budi Arie Setiadi, Indonesia’s communications minister, told Reuters, also noting that it has caused “unhealthy competition” for existing businesses in the country.
Indonesia has not tracked any credible purchases in the country via Temu, Reuters reported.
Per Reuters, Indonesia plans to pursue similar action against Temu’s rival, Shein, though the fast-fashion purveyor does not yet operate in the country.
Indonesia previously took similar action against TikTok Shop. TikTok’s eventual acquisition of a 75 percent controlling stake in Indonesian company Tokopedia later re-upped its business prospects in the country. While several outlets have reported that Temu might be in the market to purchase a stake in Indonesia’s Bukalapak, Reuters reported that the latter company denied those reports and that the communications minister promised to block investment from Temu in Indonesia.
Temu did not return Sourcing Journal’s request for comment on the ban in Indonesia. The vast majority of Temu’s sellers are Chinese manufacturers and merchants.
Even as it faced a ban from one country, Temu has made the decision to tap into two other Asian markets, both previously untouched by the parent PDD Holdings-operated company: Vietnam and Brunei.
The SCMP reported that the Vietnam introduction appears to have been done in haste—Temu launched its site there only in English, despite the majority of the population speaking Vietnamese as their first language. In addition to the language barrier, Temu reportedly launched the offering without giving users the ability to pay via Momo, a popular mobile payment platform in Vietnam. Instead, consumers must pay via credit card or Google Pay.