This Black Friday, two online retail giants are shaking up the e-commerce landscape with their aggressive marketing strategies. Shein and Temu are weaponizing digital advertising in ways that are making traditional retailers like “Target” & “Walmart” nervous.

Reuters reports that these companies are playing a cunning game of search engine manipulation. By strategically bidding on competitors’ keywords, they’re essentially hijacking online marketing real estate. Imagine bidding on phrases like “Walmart Black Friday deals” or “Zara jeans” to redirect potential customers to your own platform—that’s exactly what these companies are doing.

The numbers tell a stark story. A keyword like “Walmart clothes” has seen a mind-blowing 1,600% price increase over just two years. Erik Lautier from AlixPartners describes the current market as “brutal,” where each click becomes increasingly expensive and potentially unprofitable.

But here’s the twist: consumers are getting weary. Recent research shows:

• 25% of shoppers are less interested in deal events
• 39% are postponing non-essential purchases
• 59% plan to spend the same or less than last year

More tellingly, shoppers are experiencing promotion fatigue. One-third feel “bombarded” by endless sales, with 41% believing the constant promotions are losing their special appeal.

This isn’t just a marketing battle—it’s a strategic war for consumer attention and wallet share, with Temu and Shein leading a digital charge that’s reshaping retail dynamics.

Shein is a privately held company and therefore does not have a public stock price.

Pinduoduo Inc. is a Chinese online retailer with a focus on the traditional agriculture industry. The business is the largest product of PDD Holdings, which also owns the online marketplace Temu.