Why the World Is Starting to Hold Temu, AliExpress and Shein Accountable [CPS26-02EN]
[CPS26-02] Why the World Is Starting to Hold Temu, AliExpress and Shein Accountable
Product Safety · Customs · Small Parcels · Platform Responsibility — The Real Structure Behind Ultra-Low-Cost Platforms
Recommended image message: Why the World Is Starting to Hold Temu, AliExpress and Shein Accountable
Temu, AliExpress and Shein have changed the global retail landscape.
They offer an enormous variety of products at ultra-low prices, delivered directly to consumers across borders. For many shoppers, the first reaction is simple:
“How can this be so cheap?”
But governments, customs authorities and product safety regulators are now asking a different set of questions.
Are these products safe?
Who is responsible if something goes wrong?
How are these goods cleared through customs?
Are platforms only intermediaries, or are they becoming responsible actors in the supply chain?
This is no longer just a cross-border shopping story.
It is becoming a global issue involving product safety, customs control, small parcels, consumer protection, platform responsibility and the survival of small and medium-sized enterprises worldwide.
1. Why the World Is Looking at Temu, AliExpress and Shein Again
The core issue is not simply that these platforms are cheap.
The deeper issue is that responsibility can become unclear.
In a traditional retail and import structure, the manufacturer, importer, distributor, seller, certification holder and recall operator are usually identifiable.
But in the ultra-low-cost cross-border platform model, the structure becomes more fragmented.
There may be an overseas seller, a platform, an express carrier, a small parcel, simplified customs clearance and a final consumer.
For the consumer, it is just one package.
For governments and customs authorities, it is a massive flow of small shipments crossing borders in fragmented form.
That structure makes product safety, tax collection, customs enforcement, counterfeit control, recall responsibility and consumer protection much harder to manage through traditional systems.
This is why regulators in Korea, the United States, the European Union, Japan and the United Kingdom have begun to look more closely at ultra-low-cost platforms.
The world is no longer treating these platforms as just a matter of individual cross-border shopping.
It is beginning to see them as a structural issue involving product safety, customs, taxation, consumer protection and platform responsibility.
[CPS26-02S1] Why the World Is Starting to Hold Temu, AliExpress and Shein Accountable
Video link: https://youtube.com/shorts/gu-2LWml8OU?feature=share
2. How Are Ultra-Low Prices Possible?
The next question is this:
How are Temu, AliExpress and Shein able to offer such low prices?
The answer is not simply “cheap factories.”
Ultra-low prices are created by a complex system.
That system combines manufacturing clusters, platform data, direct shipping, small parcels and simplified customs clearance.
[CPS26-02S2] How Are Ultra-Low Prices Possible for Temu, AliExpress and Shein?
Video link: https://youtube.com/shorts/bticto6b7Gw?feature=share
3. The First Structure: Manufacturing Clusters
Behind ultra-low-cost platforms are dense manufacturing clusters.
Fabrics, components, molds, assembly, packaging and logistics are often located close to each other.
Shorter distance means shorter time.
Shorter time means lower cost.
Inventory risk also becomes smaller.
Failed products can be changed or removed quickly.
In traditional manufacturing and distribution, a product usually goes through multiple stages: planning, production, transportation, warehousing and retail.
But when production ecosystems are compressed into dense clusters, the process becomes much faster.
This compressed production ecosystem is one of the key engines behind ultra-low prices.
4. The Second Structure: Platform Data
The second engine is platform data.
Traditional retail used to produce first, store inventory and then sell.
Ultra-low-cost platforms work differently.
They observe demand signals first.
They track clicks.
They track carts.
They track reviews.
They track conversion rates.
Products with strong signals receive more exposure.
They can be produced faster.
Products with weak signals disappear quickly.
In other words, ultra-low prices are not only created by intuition. They are adjusted by data.
The key here is inventory failure cost.
In traditional retail, a failed product becomes dead inventory.
In a data-driven platform model, weak products can be reduced quickly, while strong products can be scaled rapidly.
This is the second engine behind ultra-low prices.
5. The Third Structure: How Goods Cross Borders
The third structure is how these products cross borders.
Traditional customs systems were designed mainly around B2B trade.
There is an importer, transport documentation, a commercial invoice and, when required, compliance or certification documents.
Customs procedures were built around containers, cargo shipments and identifiable importers.
Cross-border direct-to-consumer purchases are different.
When an individual consumer buys a small item from overseas, the product often moves as postal or express small parcel traffic.
Simplified customs clearance and list-based clearance systems were originally reasonable.
It would be inefficient to treat every small personal purchase like a full commercial import shipment.
But ultra-low-cost platforms changed the scale.
Small parcels became a massive import flow.
For the consumer, it is one package.
For customs authorities, it is fragmented trade arriving at scale.
6. WCO Sees E-Commerce Customs as a Core Issue
This is not only a Korean issue.
The World Customs Organization, or WCO, treated e-commerce customs as a core issue in WCO News 108 in 2025.
According to WCO, global parcel volume increased from about 44 billion parcels in 2014 to about 185 billion parcels in 2024.
That is more than a fourfold increase in ten years.
Customs authorities cannot open every box.
Full physical inspection is impossible at that scale.
The direction of customs control is therefore changing.
Authorities need to receive data first, screen for risk and stop suspicious parcels more precisely.
- Is the product description vague?
- Is the declared price unusually low?
- Does the item require certification?
- Is it a high-risk category?
- Is there a counterfeit risk?
Customs is evolving from “opening more boxes” toward data-based risk selection.
WCO also introduced the Korea Customs Service’s digital innovation in e-commerce as a separate case in 2025.
Korea is under pressure from the surge in small parcels.
At the same time, it is being discussed internationally as a case of data-driven customs innovation.
7. Customs Clearance Is Not the End of Product Safety
One important point remains.
Customs is the border gate.
Product safety is the market gate.
Customs authorities manage goods crossing the border. Product safety agencies focus on whether products used by consumers are actually safe.
Passing customs does not automatically mean that a product has been fully verified for safety.
When ultra-low-cost small parcels explode in volume, the two gates can no longer operate in isolation.
Certification data, recall data, injury information, illegal product data, consumer complaints and safety inspection results need to be connected more quickly.
If a dangerous product is found, sales blocking must be fast.
Recall data must be connected.
The same product should not simply reappear under another listing.
This is why platforms are increasingly difficult to treat as neutral intermediaries only.
Which sellers they allow, which products they expose, how they block risky products and how they cooperate with recall or consumer notice processes are becoming important questions.
Product safety is no longer only a manufacturer issue.
Platforms, customs data, product safety information and recall systems are moving toward a more connected structure.
8. The Pressure on SMEs Worldwide
This issue is not limited to Korean SMEs.
SMEs in the United States, the European Union, Japan, the United Kingdom and Latin America are facing similar pressure.
Responsible companies pay the cost of product safety.
They comply with certification requirements, testing, labeling, taxes, inventory risk, customer service and recall obligations.
If ultra-low-cost platform products enter the market through structures where responsibility costs are unclear or diluted, competition is no longer just about price.
It becomes a competition between companies that bear responsibility and systems where responsibility can become unclear.
This is a difficult environment for SMEs worldwide.
But it can also create future opportunities.
If governments strengthen platform responsibility and product safety management, safe products, verified compliance, responsible distribution and high-quality data can become competitive advantages again.
9. The Next Competition Is Not Price, but Proof
The ultra-low prices of Temu, AliExpress and Shein are not the result of cheap factories alone.
They are created by a system combining manufacturing clusters, platform data, direct shipping, small parcels and simplified customs clearance.
But that same system is putting pressure on SMEs, testing customs systems and forcing product safety management to evolve.
The next competition in the ultra-low-cost era is not simply who can sell cheaper.
It is who can sell fast while proving safety and responsibility through data.
Companies will need more than price cuts.
They will need product safety evidence, certification data, supply chain information, recall response systems, platform response capability and customs risk management.
Price alone will not be enough.
The market is moving from “cheap” toward “proven and responsible.”
eXGateAI is a growth partner for small and medium-sized enterprises.
We work together for the growth of companies and the development of their teams.
Your Scale Engine.
References
-
WCO News 108, Issue 3 / 2025: Managing E-Commerce
https://mag.wcoomd.org/magazine/wco-news-108-issue-3-2025/ -
WCO: E-commerce at a turning point: Customs, compliance and the end of de minimis
https://mag.wcoomd.org/magazine/wco-news-108-issue-3-2025/e-commerce-at-a-turning-point/ -
WCO: The Korea Customs Service’s digital innovation and e-commerce
https://mag.wcoomd.org/magazine/wco-news-108-issue-3-2025/korea-customs-services-e-commerce/
Tags: Temu, AliExpress, Shein, cross-border e-commerce, ultra-low-cost platforms, product safety, customs, small parcels, simplified customs clearance, WCO, Korea Customs Service, platform responsibility, SMEs, eXGateAI
Comments
Post a Comment