Temu and Shein: Trade association HDE suggests import ban

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In a letter to Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU), the German Trade Association (Handelsverband HDE) suggests an import ban for goods from Chinese online retailers like Temu or Shein. Alexander von Preen and Managing Director Stefan Genth complain about unequal competitive conditions in the letter.

Chinese online providers like Temu or Shein are systematically disregarding the safety and environmental standards applicable under EU law, criticize the association leaders. Retailers based in Germany are therefore no longer competitive.

The HDE calls on Chancellor Merz to advocate for fair competitive conditions and against growth impediments at the Special EU Summit taking place on February 12th. Drastic measures such as an import ban on cheap Chinese goods must also be considered as a last resort. "Those who do not adhere to the rules should not be allowed to play on our market," the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland quotes from the letter.

Furthermore, the HDE fears that the implementation of EU directives will increase the bureaucratic burden for the retail sector over the course of the year. With the tightening of the Pay Transparency Act, which will come into force in 2026, or the EU Deforestation Regulation, which will be effective from the end of this year, additional bureaucratic hurdles will arise. This will cripple the growth and competitiveness of the retail sector.

Temu and Shein are growing in Germany

According to a study "E-Commerce Market Germany 2025" published last year by the retail research institute EHI and the data platform ECDB, the popularity of Chinese online shopping portals in Germany increased significantly in 2024.

The net revenue of the Chinese fashion group Shein grew by 18 percent to 1.1 billion euros in 2024, making Shein one of the top ten largest online shops in Germany for the first time. As of September 2025, the company is the seventh largest online retailer in Germany – in 2023, the company was still in 18th place.

For online marketplaces, Temu made the biggest leap in 2024. The Chinese portal nearly quadrupled its gross merchandise volume in Germany to 3.4 billion euros, representing growth of 285 percent. This figure corresponds to the total value of all orders. The company thus rose from eleventh to fifth place among B2C marketplaces in Germany.

Amazon is the German retail sector's biggest competitor

Meanwhile, according to the study, Amazon remains not only Germany's most important online shop but also the largest online marketplace. With a net revenue of 15 million euros and a gross merchandise volume of 52 million euros in 2024, the US company far outstrips the competition.

Shein, with an annual revenue of around one million euros, does not even reach a tenth of Amazon's annual revenue in Germany. Temu, now the fifth largest online marketplace, also records only one-fifteenth of Amazon's annual merchandise volume with around 3.4 million euros.

Temu and Shein already in the EU Commission's sights

Temu and Shein have long been in the EU Commission's sights. An investigation is currently underway against Temu because the Commission accuses the company of not sufficiently complying with its obligations under the Digital Services Act (DSA).

In the middle of last year, the EU Commission published a preliminary investigation result, which confirmed the initial suspicion. There is a high risk for consumers to obtain products on the online marketplace that do not comply with the rules applicable within the EU. The Commission continues to investigate other important aspects of the proceedings, such as whether Temu unlawfully influences consumers with so-called dark patterns, independently.

Last year, the EU Commission also announced that it would take tougher action against the online fashion retailer Shein. According to an investigation by the Commission and the network of consumer authorities of the EU countries, the Chinese company systematically misleads consumers with so-called dark patterns. These sales-promoting, sometimes manipulative methods can include fake discounts, arbitrary deadlines, or misleading sustainability claims and violate EU consumer law, the Commission explained at the time.

(rah)