As Shein and Temu have taken the Western world by storm in recent years, going directly against them with a low-price option might as well be a retail death sentence.

“If you’re a brand and you find yourself competing with Shein and Temu, do something else,” said Juozas Kaziukenas, founder of e-commerce research firm Marketplace Pulse. “It’s a terrible business environment to end up with competing with someone that is ultimately pushing for the lowest price.”

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Speaking at the SJ Fall Summit, Kaziukenas’ commentary coincidentally came just a day before Amazon officially introduced its low-cost Temu competitor, Amazon Haul.

Whether Amazon’s endeavor into a race to the bottom sinks or swims, apparel brands still have opportunities to capture the consumer even as the Chinese e-commerce giants take retail market share.

“You get what you pay for,” said Ram Ben Tzion, founder and CEO of digital identity solutions provider Ultra Information Systems, who told Sourcing Journal business reporter Meghan Hall that costs don’t always have to be tied to a dollar amount.

“It’s a human cost of goods that is driven by forced labor, that is driven by production practices that if I’m the buyer, I don’t want to be part of,” Ben Tzion said. “On the one hand, I would argue brands sell stories and experiences, create content, communities and the need to deliver value. But there’s a need to also educate our consumers about ‘What is the price of buying really, really cheap?’”

While both online retailers seemingly always get associated with a younger Gen Z demographic, Kaziukenas argues that the site doesn’t have a subsection of consumers as their users.

“Even between thrift stores and Shein, there’s massive overlap,” Kaziukenas said. “If you’re a brand selling luxury goods, your users are also using Shein and Temu. It’s an industry mistake to assume that there’s a special set of age, gender, price or salary definition. By now these apps are so massive that everyone is using them.”

With the uncertainty of lofty tariffs on China-made goods dangling over the heads of retailers in 2025, Ben Tzion made a bold proclamation: Temu is not long for this world.

“I believe that Temu will disappear as quickly as it appeared,” Ben Tzion said. “With a new tariff regime…with a new enforcement in place, there will be no business case for Temu. Ultimately, when we see what is happening with price-sensitive services and products, it’s not necessarily sustainable. They don’t have any unique attribute or quality.”