Gen X and boomers love Temu. I asked them why.
- Recent research showed that boomers and Gen Xers shopped more frequently on Temu than younger people.
- This surprised me — so I asked for older readers to write in and tell me why they like Temu so much.
This holiday season, I bought a bunch of gift items on Temu, the Chinese ecommerce app that has exploded in the last year.
a set of minature pots, pans, and cooking utensils
stickers
a fanny pack that looks like a gel silica pack
pencil sharpeners that look like noses where you stick the pencil up the nostril
an unlicensed Elsa princess costume
a baseball hat that says, "women want me, fish fear me"
a pizza cutter wheel that looks like an axe
All these items were under $10, most of them around $2 — and they were absolute hits as gifts. I assumed that many people shopped on Temu the way I did: looking for weird, surprising, cheap delights that I never even knew existed.
I was surprised when I read a research study recently that said that Gen X and boomer Temu shoppers tended to spend slightly more per order and placed orders more often than younger shoppers. My assumption was that Temu was targeted more at millennial and Gen Z shoppers.
So I asked readers who were boomers or Gen Xers to write in and tell me: Why do they love Temu so much?
Over 125 people sent me emails professing their love (ok, well, sometimes reluctant appreciation). Over and over, people gave the same reason: the prices.
Another theme emerged, as well: that people were using Temu for purchases they would previously buy from Amazon. This surprised me. I would have guessed different behaviors for Amazon (searching for specific items you need) vs. Temu (browsing for delights).
On the other hand, some said they liked it because of that browsing whimsy — here's a gimzo you never knew existed! — element. In semi-recent history, these were the things you'd find wandering through Bed, Bath & Beyond (now out of business) or late-night TV infomercials.
The research study suggested that some of Temu's appeal to older shoppers was its gamified spinny wheels, which might trick less digitally savvy people. The Gen X and boomers denied this — most of them said they ignored the annoying roulette wheels.
Here's what a few Gen Xers and boomers told me, starting with a shopper who said Temu triggers nostalgia:
A boomer with a Temu "addiction:"
A kindergarten teacher who doesn't mind the quality:
A crafter who gets jewelry-making supplies:
A DIY home improvement shopper:
An engraving hobbyist who gets his tools from Temu:
The boomer who doesn't mind off-brand items: