China’s e-commerce upstarts will start to look more like Western ones
They will also focus less on Western markets
By Guy Scriven, Global business correspondent, The Economist
It did not take long for Chinese e-commerce firms to spread worldwide. Shein has rapidly become the preferred choice of American teenagers buying clothes. In 2023 TikTok launched its own e-commerce offering to its 1bn-plus users. And for most of 2024 Temu was America’s most downloaded app. But this rapid rise also attracted the scrutiny of policymakers. In 2025 this will force changes upon the upstarts that will make them more like their Western rivals.
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This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition of The World Ahead 2025 under the headline “East meets West”
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