China's DHgate surges to No 2 in U.S. app downloads

Chinese cross-border e-commerce app DHgate has secured the second spot on the free app download charts in the United States Apple App Store, just behind OpenAI's ChatGPT, amid new U.S. tariffs.

Data from app analytics firm Appfigures showed that DHgate was ranked No 352 in the non-game free iPhone apps category in the U.S. on Friday before jumping to No 6 by Sunday. On Monday, the app had climbed to third position among all free iPhone apps, including games.

According to DHgate, its app recorded 35,400 downloads across the App Store and Google Play on Saturday, marking a 56 percent increase from its 30-day average. The U.S. accounted for 17,300 of these downloads, surging 98 percent from its 30-day average.

Industry insiders attribute DHgate's popularity in the U.S. to Chinese suppliers and manufacturers using short-video platform TikTok to educate U.S. consumers on the global luxury goods market.

Many products, such as clothing, handbags, and accessories that are assumed to be European-made, originate from factories in China. Shoppers can now buy these products directly from Chinese suppliers via cross-border e-commerce platforms like DHgate, they added.

As a cross-border business-to-business e-commerce platform, DHgate was founded in 2004 and has served more than 100 million registered buyers across 225 countries and regions by connecting them to over 2.74 million sellers worldwide.