In the fall of 2020, Amazon looked unstoppable. The pandemic lockdowns had supercharged its e-commerce business, and executives were busy hiring an army of new workers and expanding the number of Amazon fulfillment warehouses across the U.S. But the tech giant would soon face the biggest threat to its online shopping empire in recent memory, and it would come from an unlikely place: China.
Over the last few years, two Chinese-owned e-commerce platforms — Shein and Temu — have quietly become some of the most popular shopping websites in the U.S. Shein specializes in low-end women’s fashion, while Temu focuses on home decor and household items — the same type of affordable, made-in-China products that many American consumers have come to associate with Amazon.