Shein and Temu have been the classic disrupters in the fashion and home online space, bringing low-end goods to American consumers that resulted in billions of dollars in sales for each of them..png?width=600&height=400&name=Untitled-3%20(19).png)
But now the next generation of Chinese e-commerce companies is entering the U.S. market and while so far they are focusing on hard goods and consumer electronics they could eventually branch out into apparel and fashion accessories. And unlike their predecessors, they are targeting premium products...and premium price points.
Take a company called Laifen, for instance. It makes hair dryers and electric toothbrushes and if they look familiar it’s because they bear more than a passing resemblance to products from Dyson and Philips, respectively. They have a very slick website, with impeccable English and American consumers posing happily using their products.
It's not until you get to the bottom of their website and the “About us” panel that Laifen talks about the company’s founding in 2019 by “Hongxin Ye, a visionary creative geek.” The name is obviously Chinese but for all the shopper knows he’s a Chinese-American from Silicon Valley. There’s no other way to know where this company was founded or located.
Companies like Laifen represent the next wave of Chinese e-commerce sellers who aren’t going to be satisfied with $6 tops, $2 bracelets and $5 Bluetooth speakers. Shein and Temu may have reached their peak market penetration but the next generation of disrupters is just getting started.