Seoul: Chinese e-commerce platform Temu has been intensifying its efforts to directly enter the South Korean market since late last year, according to an industry source.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Temu, a subsidiary of PDD Holdings Inc., is actively recruiting Korean employees to fill roles in human resources, administration, public relations, marketing, and logistics. This recruitment drive is part of Temu's broader strategy to establish a foothold in South Korea's competitive e-commerce sector.

The company is also planning to develop an integrated logistics system specifically for product delivery within Korea. Currently, Temu relies on domestic logistics partners like CJ Logistics Corp. and Hanjin Logistics Corp. for these services.

Temu launched a Korean-language online shopping platform in July 2023 and formed its business entity, Whaleco Korea LLC, back in February of the previous year. However, Whaleco Korea has not yet hired any local employees despite these developments.

In the competitive South Korean e-commerce market, Temu ranked third in terms of monthly active users (MAU) as of January. The MAU for Temu's application was 8.23 million last month, trailing behind South Korean e-commerce leader Coupang, Inc. with 33.02 million and Alibaba Group's AliExpress with 9.12 million, according to Wiseapp Retail, a retail market analysis service.

When contacted by Yonhap, a spokesperson for Temu based in Seoul declined to confirm specifics regarding the hiring of local staff or other preparatory activities by the company.