Spending on sites like Temu and Shein ‘stabilising’ after sharp rise

Buying cheap goods on foreign shopping websites like Temu and Shein appears to have become a new normal. Latest figures from Stats NZ show imports of low-value goods, purchased directly by households, increased by almost a third last year, and have more than doubled since before the pandemic. That coincided with a broader rise in e-commerce, with NZ Post recording a 9% increase in online shopping last year.

Kiwibank economist Sabrina Delgado said it was a “remarkable shift” over a short period of time. Low-value imports increased 17.9% in the first three months of last year alone, following a 10.



7% rise in the previous three months..