00:00
Have you heard about Temu?
00:02
I've heard about them.
00:03
I know that they had like some commercials in the Super Bowl
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but I'm not really familiar with them.
00:07
Are you? I haven't ordered from TEMU,
00:09
but I have ordered from Sheen before.
00:12
You know, I know they're very similar.
00:14
So I did some research and it has horrible reviews and ac
00:20
score from the better Business Bureau,
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wait reviews from like the people that purchase things from them or
00:28
so horrible reviews because it's like,
00:30
I'm like, it's so cheap that it's like,
00:32
was it like a per the prices are hard to beat to
00:38
help us get to the bottom of this?
00:39
We have Michelle Steele from tiwwg.
00:45
Hi, Michelle. Hi ladies.
00:48
Welcome. Thank you for joining us.
00:49
Thank you. Why do you think it's so cheap?
00:52
Like how can they afford to sell things for so cheap?
00:55
Well, the companies are really interesting but they have pretty similar
00:58
business models, at least up to a point.
01:01
So one thing is they really rely on manufacture in companies
01:05
sorry, manufacturing in countries where it's a lot cheaper for labor
01:09
This often means that a lot of these workers aren't full
01:11
time employees, they aren't,
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there isn't any regulations,
01:14
they can work longer hours.
01:16
The second thing is they go direct to the manufacturer.
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So instead of relying on a middleman to sell the product to
01:23
them, they can get that direct profit.
01:26
And the third thing really is that they're willing to take a
01:28
loss to really win in the US market.
01:31
has done interviews where they said they're losing about $30 per order
01:35
in the US just to win the US market.
01:37
And we're so interested in this because you know,
01:40
the Super Bowl, we just saw 3 $7 million ads to
01:44
advertise this company. So they're willing to take a little bit
01:47
of a loss right now to sell you those cheap products as
01:49
you're talking about to really get the marketplace here in the US
01:54
So would you say Temu is legit?
01:57
I haven't ordered anything from TEMU.
01:59
I get a little like,
02:00
I don't know, I feel like it's too good to be
02:04
would you say it's legit?
02:06
Well, definitely. So they claim that they're going to the
02:08
same manufacturers that are making your airpods,
02:11
but they're just using their own products on the side.
02:14
So you're probably getting the same quality.
02:16
However, you can take that with a grain of salt.
02:19
So these companies might be using the same factories,
02:21
but they might not have the standards and checks that you would
02:24
get from, let's say an apple.
02:25
That's so interesting.,
02:28
I mean, we can only hope that they're paying their employees
02:30
like livable wages but chances are they're,
02:33
they're coming from like sweatshops or some,
02:35
environments like that. Correct.
02:37
Definitely. That's one of the big complaints about companies like Temu
02:41
and X and that they work in these countries that don't have
02:43
standardized practices. You might be seeing people make to fulfill demands
02:50
maybe not even getting overtime.
02:51
So there's a lot of concern and on top of that,
02:54
they're making so many different products that it causes a lot of
02:57
environmental waste. She and I know we're talking mostly about
03:02
they are using so much plastic and vinyl that they're producing as
03:06
much waste as 100 and 80 coal powered plants a day.
03:09
So you are getting a lot of these products,
03:12
you are getting them cheaper,
03:13
but it is having an environmental cost and it's not normally made
03:16
ethically, although these companies have said that they have an eye
03:19
on making sure that they are going to be environmentally friendly in
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it really makes one stop and think twice about,
03:27
you know, like you're getting a deal but at what cost
03:29
this is affecting the environment,
03:31
you know, other people's lives like what are some other
03:35
options you would recommend shopping at?
03:38
Well, I think you should be conscious about what you buy
03:41
and where you're buying it from.
03:42
So the average, Xian customer spends about $100 of clo
03:46
on clothing a month and you probably don't need that much clothing
03:50
So really buy when you need it,
03:52
buying one piece here and there is probably more sustainable.
03:55
You can also look at buying second hand and on top of
03:58
that, you can look at how companies are ethical.
04:00
There's a lot of different standards to see if they're being green
04:03
and to see if they're being conscious about the environmental waste they're
04:06
causing and you can choose to put your money in those places
04:09
Well, thank you so much Michelle for joining us.
04:12
This has been really illuminating and I hope our audience kind of
04:14
take some knowledge from this.
04:16
If they do want to find out more,
04:18
where can people find you?
04:19
Well, I work for a company called Tiwwg.
04:22
So I'm a media consultant and I work for different publications including
04:26
C NBC Cheddar News and more.
04:28
Thank you so much Michelle.
04:29
We really appreciate you being on the show.
04:31
Thanks. I've never bought it at Sheen.
04:33
But like this last time that I went to Mexico,
04:35
like Miia, we went to the beach last year.
04:37
We went on like a big family trip and she's like,
04:39
oh those Mitra, I know that she in and I was
04:41
like they're kind of cute,
04:42
you know, but then she was literally,
04:44
we were in the water at the beach and she'd be like
04:47
she, she, she in and she was pointing to every
04:50
single person that she literally literally.
04:55
So, or if I go to a boutique,
04:58
oh dude, I have seen some boutiques with shit that's on
05:03
damn, they be buying shit,
05:05
taking the tags off and putting it in their store and selling
05:09
it for triple quadruple the price.
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