Skip to main content

Deck.blue brings a TweetDeck experience to Bluesky users

With over 3 million users and plans to open up more broadly in the months ahead, Bluesky is still establishing itself as an alternative to Twitter/X. However, that hasn’t stopped the developer community from embracing the project and building tools to meet the needs of those fleeing the now Elon Musk-owned social network, formerly known […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/TBbEAPF
Post a Comment

China’s cutthroat e-commerce tactic goes global as Shein-Temu war escalates

The battle between two of China’s largest e-commerce firms is heating up, as they take the cutthroat tactics that have long been around in the country to the international markets they both covet.

Chinese e-commerce deals giant Pinduoduo’s affiliate, Temu, which is aggressively expanding overseas, recently filed a court document in the U.S. accusing fast fashion giant Shein of anti-competitive practices. Specifically, Temu claims that Shein has been “forcing exclusive dealing arrangements on clothing manufacturers.”

This allegation is reminiscent of Alibaba’s infamous “choosing one from two” policy, where vendors were asked to sell exclusively on Alibaba’s platforms and skip its archrival, Pinduoduo. As part of its sweeping crackdown on the tech industry, the Chinese government launched a probe into Alibaba in late 2020 over its monopolistic practices.

TechCrunch has reached out to Shein and Temu for comment on the case.

Since then, China has proposed an anti-monopoly law to rein in the power of its consumer internet giants. The question is whether China will take action on the ongoing battle between Shein and Temu, neither of which sells products directly in China.

Shein’s holding company is domiciled in Singapore, though it has a significant operational footprint and sources mainly from manufacturers in China. In an effort to ramp up global expansion, the entity behind Temu and Pinduoduo recently made Dublin its base.

A closer look at what Shein and Temu are fighting over — clothing manufacturers — reveals an interesting detail. Besides price control, why would Shein keep such a tight grip on its apparel suppliers, given the abundance of resources in China? A post on Xiaohongshu, China’s lifestyle and experience sharing community, offers a clue.

The author of the post, who appears to be a Temu seller, claims that her jeans factory is having trouble procuring cotton that’s not produced in Xinjiang, the major source of cotton in China. For context, the U.S. fashion industry now must wean itself off Xinjiang cotton after a law came into force in 2021, giving U.S. border authorities greater powers to block goods linked to alleged forced labor in China.

The exclusivity requirement isn’t just about cotton. As of May, Shein has required all of the approximately 8,338 manufacturers supplying or selling on its platform to sign exclusive-dealing agreements, preventing them from selling on Temu or supplying products to Temu sellers, according to Temu’s filing.

These approximately 8,338 manufacturers represent 70-80% of the total number of merchants capable of supplying ultra-fast fashion, Temu claims.

The legal dispute between Shein and Temu is not one-sided. Back in March, Shein made accusations that Temu “willfully and flagrantly infringed Shein’s exclusive and valuable trademark and copyright rights,” and engaged in a scheme to boost its own growth in the U.S. by “impersonating [the] Shein brand on social media, trading off of the well-known Shein trademarks, and using copyrighted images owned by Roadget as part of [its own] product listings.”

Pinduoduo’s sister shopping app Temu tops US App Store



from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/0w5DCOh
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ivella is the latest fintech focused on couples banking, with a twist

Money can make people moody. There are layers of privilege, or lack thereof, that can make even the simplest conversation about bills feel like baggage to deal with. Translate that discomfort to relationships and it can feel like an awkward — and fragmented — dance on who pays which bill when (and how). Ivella , a Santa Monica-based startup, wants to build banking products for couples to take away some of these tensions. Led by CEO and co-founder Kahlil Lalji , the startup is launching with a split account product that just raised $3.5 million in funding from Anthemis, Financial Venture Studio and Soma Capital. Other investors include Y Combinator, DoNotPay CEO Joshua Browder and Gumroad CEO Sahil Lavingia. Lalji, who helped creators with digital content before jumping into the world of fintech, says that the startup was born out of his own frustration at the expectation that couples would just use Venmo unless they were married. The best solution, so far, has been joint accounts...
Post a Comment
Read more

Apple tvOS 16.4 update gives light-sensitive users a ‘Dim Flashing Lights’ feature

Apple released the tvOS 16.4 update to the public yesterday, bringing various improvements to the system, including a new “Dim Flashing Light” feature. The new accessibility option can detect flashes of light or strobe effects and then automatically dim the display of a video. The “Dim Flashing Light” feature is notable a s it will likely benefit Apple TV users with light sensitivity or, possibly, users with epileptic seizures. According to the Epilepsy Foundation , 2.7 million Americans have epilepsy, and approximately 3-5% of them are photosensitive. Photosensitive epilepsy is when seizures are triggered by flashing lights, patterns or color changes. Flashing lights can also cause headaches and migraines. The tvOS update is available for the Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD. It can be installed manually by going to “Settings,” “System” and then “Software Update.” If your Apple TV is set to update automatically, then it should be downloaded already. The other updates weren’t as signi...
Post a Comment
Read more

6 VCs explain why embedded insurance isn’t the only hot opportunity in insurtech

If you think embedded insurance is the only hot thing in insurtech these days, we’ve got a surprise in store for you: While it’s true that startups that help sell insurance together with other products and services are enjoying tailwinds, there are plenty of other opportunities in the space, several investors told TechCrunch+. You see, insurtech startups often need to take into account the myriad rules and regulations in place when they seek to innovate and embed insurance into products, which might make it difficult to pull it off. And given the current emphasis on achieving cost efficiency to extend runways in the broader startup ecosystem, it appears investors are open to insurtech startups that can build a sustainable business model, regardless of it including embedded insurance. “Insurtech startups that do not offer embedded insurance, and rather provide other innovative solutions will still attract VC funding this year, especially if they can show cost-efficient and sustainabl...
Post a Comment
Read more