广告砍了 用户涨了？Temu在美投流锐减 但月活数据仍稳健增长

This article breaks down a surprising new industry development: Temu has sharply cut its advertising spend in the U.S. market, yet its user growth remains solid. Key takeaways:

1. New data shows that between January and May 2026, Temu slashed ad spending across nearly all major U.S. social platforms. Its ad spend on X plummeted 95% year-over-year, dropping it from the platform's top spender in the same period of 2025 to 51st place. Spend fell 74% YoY on YouTube and TikTok, 46% on Snapchat, and just 10% on Instagram, resulting in an overall sharp contraction in marketing investment.

2. Contrary to expectations, Temu's U.S. monthly active users grew 21% YoY in the same period, with monthly downloads holding steady between 5.5 million and 6.8 million, indicating its core user base remains very stable.

3. The shift was driven by the U.S. elimination of the de minimis tariff exemption for imported goods under $800, which pushed up Temu's fulfillment costs and forced a strategic pivot: instead of pursuing customer acquisition at all costs, the company now prioritizes efficiency and user retention, and has reallocated excess marketing budget to Europe, where policy conditions are more stable.

This article offers valuable insights for cross-border brands on marketing strategy, channel layout and adapting to shifting consumer trends. Key takeaways:

1. Core changes to the U.S. market environment: The elimination of the de minimis exemption has sharply raised tariff costs, pushing up both fulfillment and customer acquisition costs for brands. The traditional burn-and-expand model is no longer viable, forcing strategic adjustments.

2. A actionable pivot example from Temu: The company shifted from pursuing customer acquisition and exposure at any cost to refined operations focused on improving acquisition efficiency and user retention, proving that solid user growth can be maintained without massive spending on new customer acquisition.

3. Insights for channel planning: Marketers should consolidate ad budget into high-conversion core channels and cut low-efficiency experimental spend. Compared to entertainment-focused social platforms, platforms like Pinterest, which attract users with clear purchase intent, deliver better conversion results, and Meta's platforms remain the most stable core acquisition channel. Brands can optimize their own投放结构 following this pattern.

This article provides multi-dimensional insights for cross-border sellers on policy changes, opportunities and risks, and strategic adjustments. Key takeaways:

1. Clear update on latest U.S. policy risks: The U.S. has formally eliminated the de minimis tariff exemption for imported goods under $800, which directly raises fulfillment costs for cross-border sellers. Sellers targeting the U.S. market should recalculate costs in advance, reserve buffer for cost increases, and avoid blind expansion.

2. Shift in customer acquisition trends: Top cross-border sellers have already abandoned the cost-agnostic "burn for growth" model and shifted to prioritizing acquisition efficiency and user retention. Small and mid-sized sellers should adjust their strategy accordingly, avoid following the herd on massive ad spend, and focus on improving return on investment.

3. New growth opportunity: Top sellers are reallocating marketing budget pulled from the U.S. to Europe. Between May and December 2025, Temu's ad spend rose 84% in the Netherlands, 36% in France, and 28% in the UK. With a more stable policy environment, sellers should move quickly to capture growth in Europe.

4. Guidance for channel adjustment: Consolidate budget into high-conversion core channels and eliminate low-efficiency spend.

This article provides insights for factories supplying cross-border exporters on market shifts and business adjustments. Key takeaways:

1. Cost changes for U.S.-bound exports: The U.S. elimination of the de minimis exemption for goods under $800 has pushed up fulfillment costs for downstream cross-border e-commerce platforms, and this cost pressure will gradually pass upstream to factories. Factories exporting to the U.S. should optimize production processes in advance, cutting costs through scale and refined management to absorb cost pressure.

2. Demand outlook: Temu maintained 21% monthly active user growth even after cutting ad spend, proving demand for affordable Chinese goods remains stable in the U.S. market. As long as downstream platforms maintain solid user retention, demand will not see a sharp drop, so factories can plan capacity reasonably and avoid excessive panic.

3. New business opportunities: Leading downstream platforms are increasing investment and expansion in Europe, so factories can develop product lines adapted to European market demand in advance to capture incremental growth there.

4. For factories building their own cross-border brands, Temu's adjustment is also a useful reference: optimize your ad投放结构, prioritize high-conversion channels, and avoid blind spending on customer acquisition.

This article provides insights for cross-border service providers on industry trends, customer pain points and business adjustments. Key takeaways:

1. Shifts in core customer pain points: Following the U.S. tariff adjustment and elimination of the de minimis exemption, cross-border e-commerce clients' core priority has shifted from pursuing scale expansion and aggressive customer acquisition to cost control and improved ad efficiency. Service providers should adjust their service offerings to align with this new core demand.

2. New industry trends: Advertisers are increasingly cutting low-efficiency experimental spend, consolidating budget into high-conversion core channels, and shifting overall budget allocation from the U.S. to Europe. Service providers should adjust their business layout accordingly, and build up stronger service capabilities for the European market and high-conversion core channels.

3. New growth opportunities: Demand for advertising on conversion-focused platforms with high user purchase intent, such as Pinterest, is growing rapidly. Between January and May 2026, Temu's spend on Pinterest rose 66% year-over-year. Service providers can develop targeted marketing solutions for these platforms to capture new business opportunities.

This article provides guidance for both ad platforms and e-commerce platforms on strategic adjustment and operational optimization. Key takeaways:

1. For ad platforms: Advertisers' core priority has shifted from chasing exposure to driving conversion. Spend on entertainment-heavy social platforms has fallen sharply, while spend on platforms with native search and shopping features and high user purchase intent is growing against the trend. Ad platforms need to optimize their in-platform shopping experience and strengthen conversion capabilities to attract more ad budget.

2. For cross-border e-commerce platforms: Policy changes in the U.S. have lifted overall costs, leading leading platforms to shift from scale expansion to refined operations, reorienting from new user acquisition to retaining users and merchants. Platform operators should adjust accordingly, and reallocate resources to improving operational efficiency and user retention.

3. Opportunities and risk alerts: Leading platforms are expanding aggressively in Europe, so platforms can follow suit by expanding merchant recruitment and operations in Europe to capture incremental growth. At the same time, platforms should account for U.S. policy risks, adjust platform rules in advance to adapt to the new cost environment, and mitigate risks from policy changes.

This article provides fresh case studies and detailed data for cross-border e-commerce industry research. Key research value:

1. It documents a new industrial shift for Chinese cross-border e-commerce in the post-tariff era: After facing policy headwinds in the U.S., leading platforms have completed a strategic pivot, shifting fully from the early growth-at-all-costs burn model to a refined growth model focused on operational efficiency and user retention. This shift marks the entry of the industry into a new development stage.

2. It identifies new challenges facing the cross-border industry: The U.S. tariff adjustment and elimination of the de minimis exemption has directly reshaped the cost structure of cross-border trade, and policy risk has become a core factor shaping the layout of Chinese e-commerce exporters, requiring in-depth industry-level research on mitigation strategies.

3. It summarizes new business model shifts: The burn-for-scale model is no longer viable amid rising costs. Optimizing channel structure to improve acquisition efficiency, and diversifying policy risk through regional global resource allocation, have become the new growth model for post-scale cross-border e-commerce. The first-hand data from multiple third-party institutions cited in the article also provides empirical support for future research.