Temu

BoF looks back at the news that changed the industry this year — and will define the fashion agenda in 2025.

Spending has been sluggish, but retailers have a chance to make up for lost time in a compressed holiday season - if they can find an answer to their online competition.

Consumers are getting choosier about where they spend. Retailers will need to work extra hard to ensure it’s in their stores, and not competitors’.

Plans to begin taxing US imports worth less than $800 would shut a loophole that that has helped fuel the Chinese-linked e-commerce players’ growth.

Growth is slowing, competition is getting intense and regulators have the fast-fashion retailer in their sights. But despite investor panic over its prospects, Temu remains an e-commerce powerhouse — one that Western competitors must continue to watch.

Amazon will struggle to beat Temu and Shein at their own game, and in the process, it risks devaluing what has become its core proposition: convenience.

Though e-commerce reshaped retailing in the US and Europe even before the pandemic, a confluence of economic, financial and logistical circumstances kept the South American nation insulated from the trend until later.

With consumers tightening their belts in China, the battle between global fast fashion brands and local high street giants has intensified.

They can appear out of nowhere, abruptly send costs soaring and disappear just as quickly.

Spending data shows millions of consumers are shopping on the Chinese app after seeing its ubiquitous marketing. Worryingly for competitors, customers appear to like what they’re seeing.