Temu is marketing heavily on the Vietnamese internet using multi-level marketing.

With attractive commission rates paid to KOLs/KOCs for advertising and marketing, the Temu e-commerce platform has attracted tens of thousands of app installations from Vietnamese users in just a few days, even though the platform has not yet been licensed to operate in Vietnam.

Although not yet registered in Vietnam, the Temu e-commerce platform is attracting significant attention from the Vietnamese online community thanks to its heavy investment in advertising and marketing - Photo: DUC THIEN

According to several unofficial statistical sources, as of October 27th, Temu The affiliate marketing program, which allows users to refer others to earn commissions, has attracted over 100,000 installations in Vietnam in just 5 days since its launch.

Meanwhile, many users have complained that the product quality and delivery times offered by this platform do not live up to the advertising.

Many groups and organizations advertise for Temu.

Continuously sharing tutorial articles and providing information about the platform. Temu For the past few days, Ms. Ngoc Linh (Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City) excitedly shared: "I have received nearly 5 million VND in commission from the platform."

Ms. Linh continues to share and update the latest information about Temu on her personal Facebook and TikTok pages, as well as on various groups and forums, including links to install the Temu app containing her referral code. "I'm aiming to earn 10 million VND in commission," Ms. Linh said.

Ms. Linh is one of thousands of Vietnamese internet users participating in affiliate marketing for Temu to earn commissions. On Facebook, TikTok, and other platforms, users can easily find many posts with various information and perspectives related to Temu, along with links to install the application containing the writer's referral code.

Interest in Temu on Vietnamese social media has increased so rapidly that numerous new groups and communities have been formed, with membership numbers ranging from tens of thousands to over 150,000. Some groups, previously named after ChatGPT - OpenAI VN, even quickly changed their name to Temu VN Community to better align with the trend and facilitate content dissemination.

According to data from SocialHeat, a social media listening platform owned by YouNet Media, from September 25th to October 25th, the discussion topic about Temu attracted over 410,000 interactions from more than 7,100 posts and 36,850 discussions across social media platforms in Vietnam.

Particularly when Temu launched its affiliate marketing program for users in Vietnam on October 22nd, the number of discussions about the brand skyrocketed by over 400%, averaging 51,300 interactions and 4,500 discussions per day during the three days from October 22nd to 24th.

Multi-level marketing tactics

Affiliate marketing also became the most frequently mentioned keyword on social media regarding Temu. YouNet Media noted that out of every 10 discussions related to Temu from September 25th to October 25th, 2 discussions were related to the affiliate marketing program.

Speaking to Tuổi Trẻ newspaper, Mr. Đoàn Trọng Khôi, General Director of Vimarket VN JSC - the company that owns and operates the MasOffer affiliate marketing network, said that Temu's affiliate marketing program offers high commission rates to KOLs/KOCs (people with many followers on social media), influencers, and those who publish content on websites and social media (collectively referred to as publishers)...

When a publisher refers someone to download the app and successfully make a purchase, they will receive 150,000 VND in credit. Referring 10 people will earn 1.5 million VND, 100 people will earn 15 million VND in credit... For newly registered users, the platform offers promotions allowing them to purchase multiple items at a 30% discount. If they purchase enough items, the discount can reach 70-90%...

"The program has created a huge FOMO (fear of missing out) mentality within the affiliate marketing community in Vietnam," Mr. Khoi commented. To further fuel this FOMO among Vietnamese users, Temu created a tiered commission and referral reward system.

Along with that, there was a top-ranking program for publishers, announcing the commission earned by each publisher... This created a widespread advertising competition for Temu within the KOL/KOC community. In addition, Temu continuously ran large-scale advertising campaigns on Meta, Google, and TikTok.

Along with that, Temu's marketing message conveyed that they sell cheap, diverse, and abundant products with great promotions... although in reality, many users complained about the quality of products purchased through the Temu platform as well as the delivery time not being as fast as advertised.