AliExpress, Temu rank as fastest-growing apps in Korea

[Image source: AliExpress]

AliExpress and Temu, Chinese shopping platforms that allow South Korean consumers to directly purchase items from companies based in China, made their names as the fastest-growing apps in Korea this year.

According to a survey conducted by mobile app analytics service Wiseapp Retail Goods on Wednesday on the most frequently used mobile apps on Android and iOS by Koreans this year, AliExpress had a user increase of 3.71 million in November compared to January.

In November alone, 7.07 million users used AliExpress.

Temu ranked as the second fastest-growing app in Korea, with a user increase of 3.54 million during the same period. Temu has been making waves, becoming the most downloaded app in the United States in 2023.

AliExpress and Temu are subsidiaries of China’s leading e-commerce giants Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Pinduoduo Holdings Inc., respectively.

With Chinese direct purchase apps expanding their presence in Korea, Toss, a local simple remittance and payment platform, and NH All One Bank, a financial app from NH Nonghyup Bank, secured No. 3 and No. 4 positions as the apps with the highest user growth.

The longest-used app by Koreans was YouTube, with a monthly average usage time of 99.8 billion minutes, nearly three times the amount of time spent on the second-ranked mobile messaging app KakaoTalk with 34 billion minutes.