Shopping on Shein and Temu for holiday gifts? You are not the only one.

Shop on Temu it can feel like you’re playing an arcade game. Instead of using a joystick-controlled claw to grab a toy, online market visitors manipulate their computer mice or cell phone screens to browse colorful gadgets, accessories and trinkets whose prices seem too high beautiful to be refused.

A pop-up spinning wheel offers the chance to win a coupon. Rotating captions warn that a camo-print balaclava for less than $2 and a skeleton back scratcher for $1.23 are “almost sold out.” A flame symbol indicates that a $9.69 plush cat print hoodie is selling out quickly. A limited selection of discounted items adds to the sense of urgency.

Welcome to the new online world of impulse buying, a place to guilty pleasures where the choice is vast, every day is Cyber ​​Monday, and an instant dopamine hit that will be gone by the time your package arrives is always just a click away.

Clearly, we live in an era of accelerated consumption, an era that Temu, which is owned by Chinese e-commerce company PDD Holdings, and Shein, its fierce rivalequipped with in-depth knowledge of social media and a never-ending assortment of cheap products, most shipped directly from merchants in China based on real-time demand.

The two platforms’ business models, coupled with avalanches of digital or influencer advertising, have allowed them to give Western retailers a run for their money this year. holiday shopping period.

Software maker Salesforce said it expects about one in five online purchases in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada to be made through four online marketplaces based or founded in Asia: Shein, Temu, TikTok Shop – the video e-commerce branch. -sharing platform TikTok – and AliExpress.

Salesforce analysts said they are expected to generate about $160 billion in global sales outside of China. Most sales will go to Temu and Shein, a private company considered the market leader. global fast fashion market in income.

Lisa Xiaoli Neville, a nonprofit executive who lives in Los Angeles, is sold on Shein. The bedroom of her house is filled with jeans, shoes, snap studs and other items from the ultra-fast fashion retailer, all of which she accumulated after going to the platform to buy a pair of earrings. $2 ears that she saw in a Facebook ad. .

Neville, 46, estimates she spends at least $75 a month on Shein products. A $2 egg shell opener, a portable apple peeler and an apple corer — both costing less than $5 — are among the quirky, single-use kitchen tools that are taking up drawer space. She admits she doesn’t need it because she “don’t even cook like that.” Plus, she’s allergic to apples.

“I won’t eat apples. This is going to kill me,” Neville said, laughing. “But I still want the coring thing.”

Shein, now based in Singapore, uses some of the same web design features as Temu, such as coupons and pop-up ads, to persuade shoppers to keep clicking, but its approach seems a little more restrained.

Shein mainly targets young women through partnerships with social media influencers. Searching the company name on video platforms reveals designers promoting Shein’s Black Friday sales event and displaying the dozens of fashionable clothing and accessories they got for relatively little money.

But the Shein-focused content also includes videos of TikTokers saying they’re embarrassed to admit they shopped there and critics lashing out at fans for not considering the environmental damage Or potential labor abuse associated with products that are manufactured and shipped around the world at a rapid pace.

Neville has already selected holiday gifts for family and friends on the site. Most of the products in her online cart cost less than $10, including graphic T-shirts she plans to buy for her son and jeans and loafers for her daughter. In total, she plans to spend about $200 on gifts, significantly less than the $500 she used to spend at other stores in previous years.

“The visuals just make you want to spend more money,” she said, referring to the clothes featured on Shein’s site. “They’re super cheap and everything is so cute.”

Unlike Shein, Temu’s appeal extends across all age groups and genders. The platform is the second most visited online shopping site in the world, software company Similarweb reported in September. Customers flock there looking for practical items like doormats and silly products like a whiskey bottle shaped like a vintage 1990s cell phone.

Temu has announced Black Friday deals on select items, at over 70% off the recommended retail price. Making a purchase can quickly result in receiving dozens of emails offering free gifts. The caveat: Customers have to buy more products.

Ellen Flowers, 36, a lifestyle blogger who lives in Dallas, recently decided to pair a $3,500 dining table with $25 dining chairs from Temu to save money. She also bought Temu some clothes. The quality or fit wasn’t always great, so Flowers donated unwanted pieces to thrift stores to avoid paying return shipping costs that would cost almost as much as the clothes.

Flowers planned to buy Temu Christmas gifts as well as baubles for a decoration exchange party in early December. She also wanted to purchase some necklaces and bracelets for an activity at her 5-year-old niece’s upcoming birthday party.

“I love buying my nieces gifts,” Flowers says. “Since they are young, they don’t need the Louis Vuitton handbag. I can give them a nice handbag from Temu. Then they’ll lose interest in a month and I’ll buy them another one.

Despite their rise, Temu and Shein have proven particularly ripe for pushback. Last year, a coalition of anonymous brands and organizations launched a campaign against Shein in Washington. American lawmakers also raised the possibility that Temu allows the entry into the country of products produced using forced labor.

More recently, the Biden administration has proposed rules that suppress a commercial rule known as the de minimis exception, which allowed many inexpensive products to enter the United States duty-free. President-elect Donald Trump should give a big slap customs duties on goods from Chinaa move that would likely drive up prices across the retail world.

Both Shein and Temu have set up warehouses in the United States to speed up delivery times and help them better compete with Amazon, which is trying to erode their price advantage in a new showcase which also ships products directly from China.

Meanwhile, Temu is onboarding Chinese traders to store inventory in the United States, a move that would allow the company not to be as exposed to changes related to the de minimus trade rule, said Juozas Kaziukenas, founder of the e-commerce intelligence company Marketplace Pulse.

The move comes as Shein and Temu attempt to expand beyond the bargain-hungry shoppers who popularized their platforms. Temu allows sellers to ship products to customers from local U.S. warehouses and says the move will allow it to sell larger items like furniture, while expanding its selection of big-ticket items.

Meanwhile, American children’s clothing retailer The Children’s Place signed an agreement last month to distribute its products via the Shein platform. Last year, Shein launched into women’s fashion retailer Forever 21. It is working to recruit other brands and is said to be hoping to list on the London Stock Exchange.