Chinese e-commerce app takes No 2 spot on App Store, wins US buyers' hearts

A Chinese e-commerce application has rocketed to the top of free iPhone apps in the US App Store – just after ChatGPT – bolstered by China-made products winning over American consumers on TikTok against the backdrop of an escalating Sino-US tariff war, according to US media TechCrunch.

Chinese e-commerce marketplace DHgate, which facilitates the sale of manufactured products from Chinese suppliers to overseas retailers, became the No 2 free iPhone app on Tuesday.

It was ranked No 352 among the top non-game free apps category in the US just last Friday, before jumping to No 6 on Sunday and No 3 on Monday, according to data from platform Appfigures.

DHgate, founded in 2004 by Chinese entrepreneur Diane Wang Shutong, now offers an inventory of over 30 million products across such categories as electronics, home and toys, and shoes and apparel, according to its official website.

It features buyers who are mostly small and medium-sized entities that prefer to purchase finished products in a “small amount, many times” manner.

DHgate charges commissions based on transactions from buyers, in contrast to giant platforms such as Alibaba (9988) where merchants pay for advertising and membership fees.

The demand for DHgate's app originates from a TikTok viral trend where Chinese manufacturers reveal that they where actually the ones who make the luxury clothes, handbags and other accessories that Americans think come from Europe.

A TikTok video under an account named LunaSourcingChina reveals that a Chinese factory produces yoga pants of premium sportswear brand Lululemon at a cost of no more than US$5 (HK$39) apiece. The retail price of a pair of yoga pants is over US$100 in the United States.

The video shows that China-made pants and those in the US market are “essentially identical in fabric and workmanship.”

A number of similar videos have even attached links to the websites of these factories, directing viewers to place orders directly with these vendors.

The costs are far lower than that of purchasing in the US, despite the looming US tariff on small parcels from China.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump closed a trade loophole known as "de minimis" that allowed low-value packages from China and Hong Kong to enter the US free of duties.

He ordered that imported goods priced up to US$800 be taxed at a rate of either 30 percent of their value or US$25 (HK$194) per item, effective on May 2, with that rate increasing to US$50 (HK$388) per item after June 1.

Following this trend, other TikTok creators said the DHgate app is a source for buying luxury goods before the label is added – which turns those made-in-China products to somewhat “made in Italy” or “made in France.”

Notably, those videos were uploaded in March and have gone viral until the current tit-for-tat trade war began raging between the world's largest economies.

Trump has escalated his levies on China to the current 145 percent rate.

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