Alibaba Climbs US Shopping Charts as Tariffs Bite American Consumers

Alibaba.com mobile app has occupied third place in the US iOS shopping category from 18th place just a month ago.

Alibaba Group, a Chinese multinational e-commerce giant, briefly became the top shopping app on Wednesday in the US iOS app store despite the US imposing hefty tariffs on “Made in China” products.

President Donald Trump has called the word ‘tariffs’ ‘the most beautiful word in the dictionary’ as he raised tariffs on Chinese goods to as high as 245% since his return to office in January.

The goal was to encourage US manufacturers to set up their factories at home rather than face the increased duties by importing goods internationally, but it turns out this strategy is backfiring.

American consumers fear increasing prices and started hunting for discounts. That is where Alibaba and a few other Chinese e-commerce apps made it to the top shopping app charts in the US.

Chinese apps gained three out of five top positions in the US Apple store shopping category.

According to data from the analytics platform Sensor Tower, the Alibaba mobile app has occupied third place in the US iOS shopping category from 18th place just a month ago.

Sensor Tower data showed that Chinese shopping apps like DHgate, Shein, and Temu were among the top 10 shopping platforms on iOS and Google Play stores. Taobao, owned by Alibaba, fell from fifth to 32nd on iOS.

The increasing craze behind Chinese shopping apps comes after videos of local merchants promoting cheap and luxury China-made products went viral on TikTok (a popular social media platform where users share short-form content.)

It is not the first time. Chinese traders are attracting shoppers globally who wish to buy different kinds of goods for cheap prices. Especially with the tariff craze going on, it was the perfect time for Chinese merchants to attract American shoppers who are increasingly worried that global tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump might increase the prices.

DHgate, a business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce platform, was little-known a month ago. But, after the video went viral, according to Sensor Tower data, it has gotten more than 500,000 downloads on iOS and 300,000 on Google Play Store within the last month.

DHgate became the first Chinese app to dominate the North American market, ranking second place among other iPhone apps, with only ChatGPT ahead of it.

Closely followed by DHgate, Alibaba experienced popularity and downloads. The Chinese online platform was second on the US shopping chart, achieving the same rank in Canada and the UK and reaching first place in France, with downloads skyrocketing compared to pre-tariff levels.

As DHgate gained popularity, its all-around strategic partner, CTS International Logistics Corp, also got its share. Its stock price increased by over 10%, reaching the daily limit on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

In its 2024 annual report, Alibaba reported to have 48 million customers serving more than 190 countries.

Now, the group is trying to expand globally since there is reduced domestic demand due to new players heating the competition, like PDD Holdings’ Pinduoduo and ByteDance’s Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.

Many Chinese cross-border e-commerce apps had to adapt to changing policies amid Trump’s global trade war.

Shein and Temu notified its US buyers that they would increase their prices from April due to the new tariffs brought in by Trump. Temu, owned by PDD, also stopped its ad expenditure with many social media platforms like Google and Meta.

While the US wanted to reduce its reliance on imports and increase domestic manufacturing, the results were quite the opposite. American consumers have turned to Chinese shopping apps in search of affordable alternatives because of the fear of rising costs.

Ironically, the tariffs meant to reduce China’s economic footprint in the US may have inadvertently amplified it, at least in the digital shopping arena.