Online fast-fashion retailer SHEIN and its new rival Temu are racing to grab shoppers’ attention for their cheap Chinese products.
The battle between them is playing out not only on social media, but also in US courts. In US federal court, SHEIN accused Temu of hiring social media influencers to make “false and misleading claims” against SHEIN in promotions on its website Temu.com.
SHEIN seeks to prevent the company from using its trademark for marketing purposes and seeks compensation for sales that it can prove resulted from deceptive or illegal marketing. Temu asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit.
The lawsuit, filed in December in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, alleges Temu told social media influencers to make disparaging comments about the retailer and tricked customers into downloading the Temu app using social media accounts.
The now-deleted @SHEIN_DC, @SHEIN_USA_, and @SHEIN_NYC pages were created in September and featured SHEIN’s logo and marketing materials on their bio pages, according to screenshots provided with the company’s filing.
“Temu also attempted to impersonate the SHEIN brand and mislead consumers into believing that Temu is associated with that brand,” the lawsuit alleges.
SHEIN said the links on the fake pages prompted shoppers to install Temu’s app, with the impression that the two companies were related. A SHEIN spokesperson declined to comment on the ongoing litigation.
A Temu.com spokesperson said the company “strongly and categorically denies all allegations and vigorously defends its rights.”
SHEIN itself has faced lawsuits alleging copyright infringement. Under the name Zoetop Business, it has been sued by dozens of independent artists and retailers, including Nike, UGG’s Deckers, Luxottica Group’s eyewear brand Oakley, and online retailer Dolls Kill, over alleged counterfeiting.
PDD, owner of the popular Chinese app Pinduoduo, launched Temu in September as a new app for US consumers to shop for shoes, jewelry, beauty accessories and homewares directly from Chinese merchants.
Temu’s sales by GMV metric grew from $3 million in September to $192 million in January, according to data firm YipitData.
In the US, Temu is paying social media influencers $100 to $1,000 an hour for content that connects Temu’s market on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.
Source: Terra
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