Despite the ‘misery index’ many Kiwis are still spending, so some mums may be in for a treat this Mother’s Day. 💐 Some may even have kids who shop like a billionaire on global e-commerce mega-site Temu, which launched in September last year and landed with a whimper not a roar on Super Bowl Sunday. For under 20 bucks, this Sunday mums could be unwrapping bling for their Crocs, bra storage systems and, erm, double chin reducers? Or for under $40, sneakers that look cheekily similar to Adidas. 👟

Owned by Chinese PDD Holdings (PDD - ADR) and very recently allegedly headquartered in Ireland, Temu has been running aggressive - some say ‘begging’ - digital marketing campaigns, like offering up to 90% off Mother’s Day deals for their manufacturer-to-consumer products. Promotions that in 2022 Q4 cost the company US$17.3 billion. 💸

With a market cap of more than US$83 billion, PDD Holdings is no multinational tech slouch, however. The Nasdaq ADR-listed company, which also owns Chinese e-commerce app Pinduoduo, has a board with a collective career pedigree that includes Microsoft, HSBC, Tencent and Yahoo! Yet despite a 46% year-on-year Q4 revenue increase - well above single-digit revenue growth of rivals Alibaba (BABA - ADR) at 2% and JD (JD - ADR) at 7.1% - they fell short of analyst expectations, which sparked a 14% share slide, since dropping 21.4% following the March announcement.

But Temu’s cheap clothing has Shein’s low-priced knickers in a knot. 🩲 Chinese online retailer and Gen Z fave, Shein, which took three years to gain the same 50 million app downloads Temu achieved in six months, says they’ll see Temu in court - accusing the new discount merch app of paying influencers to ‘make disparaging remarks’ about them. But Shein may have bigger battles ahead. Despite denying plans for a US IPO, Shein’s under fire by US lawmakers who have raised red flags with the SEC for Shein’s alleged Uyghur ‘forced labor’. 🚩

So while it’s too late to order mum a rhinestone evening bucket bag, there’s still time to grab our fave long-time mum-taxi a sweet as Supercheap Auto gift. We love ya, Mum! 💘