American shoppers flock to Chinese apps on tariff fears
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Taobao, along with DHgate and Shein were among the most downloaded shopping apps in the US App Store.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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Americans are scouring Chinese e-commerce apps for cheap handbags, yoga pants and wallets as shoppers fear home-grown platforms will hike prices due to tariffs.
Viral videos touting the high quality, and cheap prices,
Shares of CTS International Logistics, which cooperates with DHgate, rose by the 10 per cent daily limit in Shanghai on April 16.
Along with DHgate, known as “Dunhuang” in Chinese and dubbed the “Little Yellow App” by some shoppers, Alibaba Group Holding’s Taobao, and Shein were among the most downloaded shopping apps in the US App Store.
Chinese suppliers and manufacturers are taking to TikTok to share videos aimed at showing foreigners the “source of good goods”.
Many of the videos, which claim that handbags and clothes of high-end European brands are actually all sourced from Chinese manufacturers, provide links to websites and contact details, leading viewers to place orders directly with these vendors.
“You do not need to play the Hermes game for the same exact thing. Save your money and get your Birkins and Mini Kellys just in time for summer 2025,” captioned a trending TikTok video promoting Hermes bags on DHgate.
A counterfeit version of a US$1,490 (S$1,958) Louis Vuitton pochette wallet was offered for just US$3.24 on the Chinese app. More than 100 have been sold, data from the app showed.
A pair of Lululemon yoga pants, retailing for US$98, was on sale for just US$13. More than 10,000 have been sold, the app data showed.
Last week, DHgate issued an open letter to merchants about its “Tariff Escort Plan”, pledging to provide traffic, subsidies, logistics, and other support for merchants to help them reduce cost pressure and stabilise sales.
The platform says it now hosts more than 2.6 million registered suppliers that produce an average of more than 30 million online products per year. It covers some 200 countries and regions, owns more than 10 overseas warehouses and provides over 100 logistic routes.
DHgate was founded in 2004 by Ms Wang Shutong, the co-founder of joyo.com, one of China’s earliest e-commerce platforms that was later acquired by Amazon. Dubbed the “female Jack Ma”, Ms Wang previously worked for Microsoft and Cisco Systems before setting up her own company. BLOOMBERG
