Chinese Retail Giants Under Fire for Environmental Harm and Subpar Goods

Temu, Shein, and AliExpress are essentially the Chinese versions of Amazon - assesses the German newspaper, merkur.de. They are e-commerce giants offering a huge amount of low-quality goods for pennies.

These three companies have a lot in common - in their offerings, you can find almost everything, each of them primarily acts as an intermediary in sales (goods usually come directly from suppliers), their development is very rapid, and their approach is aggressive. All three have also recently been targeted by the German government.

According to merkur.de, German authorities plan to tighten market oversight and customs procedures reforms. The State Secretary for Economic Affairs, Udo Philipp, calls for more rigorous controls of imported goods - notes the dlahandlu.pl portal.

This is the result of recent tests conducted by the Federal Network Agency, which revealed that most products did not comply with legal requirements. Studies conducted by the Toy Industries of Europe Association showed threats to children's safety in purchased products. As many as 18 out of 19 products purchased from Temu did not meet EU safety standards.

Reviews on portals also leave much to be desired. Customers often report problems with quality, deliveries, and unwanted products. Products often differ from their descriptions. A test purchase from Temu included goods damaged during transport, and in the case of Shein, 15% of products were contaminated with harmful substances - cites wdr.de.

Additionally, the lack of CE marking (which certifies that the product meets European requirements) on products, especially those electronic from Temu, increases the risk of fire, for example. Operators of e-commerce platforms also avoid EU customs and tax regulations. They keep prices below £130 - to avoid customs duties.

Another aspect is the impact of Chinese sales platforms on the domestic market. Primark - a competitive clothing retailer, experienced it firsthand as Shein takes over its online business thanks to much cheaper, often substandard products - points out the dlahandlu.pl portal.

Ecologists also raise the alarm, who point out the negative impact of the platforms on the environment. These platforms, specializing in ultra-fast fashion, generate a large amount of waste.

Every minute, they launch new, cheaply produced and cheaply sold clothing on the market. Young consumers quickly decide to purchase and just as quickly discard clothes. This phenomenon is called "trash trail."