Chinese e-commerce giant Temu has opened a local warehouse in South Africa, a move aimed at slashing delivery times and consolidating its footprint in Africa’s most competitive online retail market. With the new distribution centre, Temu says it can now deliver some items to South African customers in as little as one day.

The announcement marks a significant milestone for the discount-focused e-commerce platform, which only entered the South African market in 2024. It also signals a bolder strategy to challenge incumbents like Takealot, the Naspers-backed local heavyweight, and Amazon, which launched full local operations in South Africa in 2024.

The company’s local warehouse option is designed to support faster and more reliable delivery, particularly during high-demand shopping seasons. Eligible products are marked “local warehouse” on the platform, indicating they are stocked domestically and dispatched from within the country.

While Temu does not operate its own warehouses, the company partners with third-party logistics providers. Under its fulfilment model, sellers store inventory locally and handle logistics and post-sale support. Temu says this hybrid approach allows it to scale quickly without investing heavily in fixed infrastructure.

“Shoppers in South Africa can now receive their Temu orders in as little as one day, thanks to the e-commerce platform’s new local warehouse dispatch option,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday. The move is part of a global push to enhance delivery speed, with local fulfilment already rolled out in the US, UK, Canada, Germany, Japan and several other markets.

A Market That Has Humbled Global Players

Temu’s expansion comes less than a year after Jumia Technologies AG, often dubbed the “Amazon of Africa,” shut down operations in South Africa and Tunisia. Once active in 11 African markets, Jumia pulled out of both countries after a strategic review found them underperforming. According to company filings, South Africa and Tunisia accounted for just 3.5% and 2.7% of total orders respectively in 2023, and a similarly modest share of Gross Merchandise Value.

“After careful analysis, we have decided to discontinue operations in South Africa and Tunisia,” said Jumia CEO Francis Dufay last October. “Both markets have faced challenging competitive and macroeconomic conditions.”

Jumia’s departure highlighted just how difficult South Africa can be for foreign e-commerce players. Despite its relatively high internet penetration and strong logistics infrastructure, the market remains tough to crack, in part due to entrenched local competitors and price-sensitive consumers.

What Temu Thinks It’s Doing Differently

Where Jumia struggled with localisation and high logistics costs, Temu appears to be betting on its lean marketplace model, global supply chain leverage, and low-price proposition. Backed by Chinese e-commerce behemoth PDD Holdings, Temu has grown rapidly by offering ultra-low-cost goods shipped directly from manufacturers, often at prices significantly below local competitors.

But low prices alone won’t guarantee success. South African consumers are known for their wariness around international platforms, particularly when it comes to delivery times, product quality, and customer service. This may explain why Temu is rolling out local warehousing less than a year after entering the market.

“Fulfilment is everything,” a Johannesburg-based e-commerce expert tells Launch Base Africa. “Temu seems to understand that if it wants to compete on more than price, it needs to control the last mile experience much more tightly.”

A Race Against Amazon and Takealot

Temu enters a market already bracing for heightened competition. Amazon’s launch in South Africa was widely seen as a watershed moment for the sector. The US tech giant is expected to ramp up its own local logistics operations in the coming year. Meanwhile, Takealot, which has dominated South Africa’s e-commerce space for more than a decade, continues to hold significant market share and brand trust.

The battle now seems to be shifting toward fulfilment speed, customer experience, and platform reliability — areas where Takealot has historically performed well. But Temu’s aggressive pricing and rapid scaling model could prove disruptive, particularly among younger and price-sensitive shoppers.

Cautious Optimism or Another Overreach?

The question remains: can Temu succeed where others have stumbled? South Africa is littered with examples of international e-commerce ventures that underestimated the cost of doing business in a fragmented retail environment.

Temu’s warehouse strategy is a necessary step, but it may not be sufficient. The company will need to invest in building local trust, improving last-mile delivery, and possibly navigating tighter regulation, especially around consumer protection and tax compliance.

Still, with a fast-expanding global presence — now in over 90 markets — Temu has shown it can adapt quickly. Whether that agility translates into long-term success in South Africa remains to be seen.

Temu has the capital and the playbook. The question is whether it has the staying power.