Temu adds isiZulu language support, boosts South African presence amid e-commerce growth, and challenges.
E-commerce platform Temu, which has been wildly successful since its inception in South Africa almost a year ago, has now expanded the languages that local customers may access on its mobile app to include isiZulu. There are two ways for users to switch the language in the settings.
A few months after it was released on the iOS and Google Play Stores, the Chinese e-commerce company, which was founded by a former Google employee, has become one of the most famous mobile apps in South Africa.
According to a News24 survey of 1,700 residents as of January 2025, one in three South Africans is thought to have used Temu in the first year, which translates to millions of orders. More than 40% of these users became monthly active users, meaning they made purchases on the app each month, according to the survey. With their low prices and incredibly convenient features, applications like Shein and Temu have entered the South African e-commerce and clothes and apparel markets, causing significant disruptions that will probably last a lifetime.
When it was announced that Temu and other companies would be subject to a new tax from the South African Revenue Service (SARS), South Africans reacted negatively, saying that the proposed 45 percent VAT increase for shipments under R500 did not consider the needs of consumers and was only intended to safeguard large corporations like The Foschini Group.
The South African textile industry, which sustains about 80,000 jobs nationwide, was intended to be protected by the SARS tax rise. The R500 plan ultimately failed, and SARS's most recent proposal is a 20% tariff on small goods on Temu starting in August 2024.
Temu's immense success hasn't been without criticism, not only in South Africa but also beyond. Temu has been at the center of a European assault on e-commerce companies, with new rules supporting claims that Temu distributes subpar goods.
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