Temu’s ‘local warehouse’ in South Africa: How it actually operates

Temu, the popular online marketplace famous for bargain-priced goods shipped directly from China, recently opened a “local warehouse” in South Africa.

This warehouse aims to deliver items to local shoppers within one or two days, promising much faster delivery times.

But here’s the catch: Temu doesn’t own any warehouses in the country. So, how does it work?

Temu’s warehouses

MyBroadband reports that the platform depends entirely on third-party logistics providers.

Independent facilities store inventory for sellers. Temu labels products stocked in these facilities as “local” or from a “local warehouse,” but Temu does not own the warehouses.

The company says it uses this setup as part of its local fulfilment model. Sellers handle storage, shipping, and after-sales support themselves.

Temu aims to shorten delivery times and improve customer service, and it says South African shoppers will start seeing these benefits as the model grows.

How the local fulfilment model works:

Sellers choose to store their products in third-party warehouses located within South Africa.

This allows for faster delivery since the items don’t have to be shipped from overseas. Temu highlights the estimated delivery time for each local product and even shows the fastest time a seller has achieved, along with how consistently they hit that mark, giving shoppers a clearer idea of what to expect.

Because these products are already in the country, they don’t incur import duties. However, shoppers should be aware that a R75 delivery fee applies for each seller if your order from them totals less than R650.

That means if you’re buying from multiple sellers and none of your orders exceed R650, you’ll be paying R75 per seller at checkout.