On 16 March 2026, Chinese retail giant JD.com officially launched its online platform Joybuy in six European markets: Germany, the UK, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. Over 100,000 products are on sale – ranging from Apple smartphones and Braun shavers to Chinese brands previously unknown to most European consumers.
What at first glance appears to be just another online shop is in fact the most ambitious attempt yet by a Chinese company to establish a lasting presence in the European retail sector.
Unlike Temu or Shein, JD.com is pursuing a strategy that goes far beyond a simple online marketplace: the company has acquired a majority stake in Ceconomy – the parent company of MediaMarkt and Saturn – for €2.2 billion. This means that Europe’s largest specialist electronics retail chain will in future be backed by a Chinese conglomerate with a clear goal: to introduce 1,000 Chinese brands to Europe.
For anyone working for well-known brand manufacturers or in the field of product compliance, the landscape is once again undergoing a fundamental shift.
This article analyses the three major Chinese platforms – Temu, Shein and Joybuy – highlights the differences in their business models and explains why established brand manufacturers from Europe, the US, Japan and Korea must prepare for cut-throat competition in which the rules of product safety have so far been barely enforced.
Temu is part of PDD Holdings (the parent company of Pinduoduo), was founded in Boston in 2022 and has relocated its formal corporate headquarters to Dublin, Ireland. The platform connects Chinese manufacturers directly with end consumers and focuses on extremely low prices, gamified shopping experiences and aggressive marketing. By April 2025, Temu was active in over 90 markets.
In Europe, Temu operates warehouse facilities in several countries (including the UK, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain and France), but continues to ship the majority of its products directly from China.
The product range consists almost exclusively of no-name products or little-known Chinese brands. Established European, American, Japanese or Korean brands are largely nowhere to be found on Temu.
In December 2025, Temu’s European headquarters in Dublin were raided by EU regulators under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation. The European Commission has also launched proceedings under the Digital Services Act (DSA).
Shein was founded in 2008 in Nanjing, China, and has since relocated its global headquarters to Singapore. Its European headquarters are in Dublin, Ireland. Shein specialises primarily in fast fashion, but has expanded its range to include cosmetics, accessories and homewares.
At the end of 2025, Shein opened a large logistics centre near Wrocław (Breslau) in Poland, which serves as its primary European distribution hub. Shein also maintains warehouses in Madrid and offices in London and Paris.
As with Temu, in-house designs and third-party products dominate – international branded goods play a minor role.
In February 2026, the European Commission launched formal DSA proceedings against Shein, citing, among other things, the sale of illegal products and design elements that encourage gambling.
JD.com (Jingdong Group) was founded in Beijing in 1998 by Richard Liu and, with a turnover of over 158 billion US dollars (2024), is China’s largest retailer by turnover. The international brand Joybuy was launched in 2016 and is formally registered in Hong Kong.
In Europe, JD.com initially launched in 2022 under the brand name “Ochama” in the Netherlands. In August 2025, Ochama was renamed Joybuy. The official launch took place on 16 March 2026 in six European countries.
JD.com now operates over 60 warehouses and depots in Europe, covering around 300,000 square metres, with over 49,000 parcel lockers and its own delivery service called JoyExpress. In Germany alone, Joybuy has a 90,000 m² logistics centre.
The key difference from Temu and Shein is that Joybuy purchases products directly from brand manufacturers, stores them in its own EU warehouses and sells them to end consumers under its own name.
The range includes well-known European brands such as Philips, Bose, L’Oréal, Braun, DeLonghi and BRITA; American brands such as Apple and JBL; Japanese brands such as Sony; and Korean brands such as Samsung – as well as lesser-known brands such as Redmi (Xiaomi), Miniso, sanag and soundcore (a sub-brand of the Chinese Anker Group).
Something many in Germany are not yet aware of: JD.com has secured a total stake of 85.2 per cent in Ceconomy, the parent company of MediaMarkt and Saturn.
The takeover is expected to be finalised in the first half of 2026. The European Commission is currently still investigating whether JD.com is subsidised by the Chinese government.
JD.com will thus gain access to over 1,000 stores across eleven countries and, for the first time, be able to establish a combination of an online platform, its own logistics and brick-and-mortar retail in Europe.
A quote from JD.com founder Richard Liu is particularly revealing: “Our definition of success is to help 1,000 Chinese brands succeed – if we achieve that, then JD will also have succeeded.”
These brands are to be sold exclusively via JD.com – they will not be available on Amazon or from local European retailers. Liu cited the Chinese household appliance brands Haier and Midea as examples.
Market observers expect that, via the MediaMarkt Marketplace, Chinese own-brand products and brands such as Xiaomi, TCL and Haier will increasingly enter the European market in future.
JD.com has also announced that it will assist Chinese manufacturers with regulatory hurdles and certifications.
The strategy is therefore clear: first build trust through well-known European, American, Japanese and Korean brands, then gradually expand the range to include Chinese brands. Anyone ordering an Apple iPhone from Joybuy today may find a smartphone from a Chinese brand listed as a ‘recommended alternative’ alongside it tomorrow.
Before we analyse compliance responsibilities, it is worth taking a look at the empirical evidence. Numerous European studies and investigations over the past few months have documented the extent to which products from platforms such as Temu and Shein violate European safety and environmental regulations. The results are alarming.
Stiftung Warentest, in collaboration with consumer organisations from Belgium (Testachats) and Denmark (ForbrugerrÃ¥det), tested 162 products from Temu and Shein – including necklaces, children’s toys and USB chargers.
The result: 110 out of 162 products (around 68 per cent) did not meet EU safety standards. A quarter of the products were even classified as ‘potentially dangerous’.
In detail: Two necklaces from Shein contained more than 85 per cent cadmium – the EU limit is 0.01 per cent, an excess of 8,500 times the limit. 52 out of 54 USB chargers did not meet EU safety requirements; some heated up to 88 degrees Celsius whilst charging (limit: 77 degrees) – posing a corresponding risk of fire and electric shock.
The study “Dangerous Bargains?” by the research institute ibi research, commissioned by the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs and the German Retail Association (HDE), examined 182 items on five platforms (Temu, Shein, AliExpress, Banggood and TikTok Shop).
Serious safety defects were found in almost a third of the products examined. 28 selected products were subjected to in-depth laboratory testing in collaboration with the Bavarian market surveillance authority.
In addition to product safety shortcomings, the researchers identified missing product labelling, vague product descriptions and frequently poor quality. As a result, the HDE and the vzbv are calling, among other things, for the abolition of the €150 duty-free threshold and the consistent monitoring of the obligation to name an EU economic operator.
In February 2025, the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) summarised the results of national consumer tests. In toys, testers found phthalate plasticisers that exceeded the limit by a factor of 240, as well as borates – substances linked to reproductive harm. In Denmark, elevated fluorine levels were detected in disposable tableware and baking paper, indicating the presence of banned PFAS chemicals. BEUC’s conclusion: Temu is “a gateway for illegal products that have no place on our markets.”
The Austrian Chamber of Labour of Upper Austria, in collaboration with the environmental organisation GLOBAL 2000, tested twenty items of clothing from Temu and Shein for harmful substances. Seven out of 20 items (35 per cent) were unfit for sale – they should not have been sold in the EU. Particularly alarming: a women’s jacket from Temu exceeded the EU limit for the ‘forever chemical’ PFCA by a factor of 4,154. The PFOA limit was exceeded by a factor of 770.
The German authorities have also released figures: in 2023, the Federal Network Agency inspected around 5,000 consignments of goods from third countries and found that 92 per cent of these goods did not comply with EU regulations. The HDE reported that around 60 per cent of the products delivered were not marketable due to breaches of chemicals legislation. Katharina Barley, Vice-President of the European Parliament, stated that spot checks had revealed breaches of EU safety regulations in nine out of ten cases.
In France, the situation culminated in a regulatory move unprecedented to date: in November 2025, the French government attempted to suspend access to the Shein platform after, amongst other things, weapons and child-like sex dolls had been discovered on the platform. Although a court blocked the immediate suspension, it called on the European Commission to initiate DSA proceedings – which the Commission did in February 2026.
These study findings form the backdrop against which the compliance responsibilities of the three platforms must be assessed. For the crucial question is: Who is liable if such products cause harm?
The EU General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR, Regulation 2023/988) requires, in Article 16(3), that an economic operator established within the Union be responsible for every consumer product on the EU market.
The GPSR also defines the various economic operators in Article 3: manufacturer, authorised representative, importer, distributor – and, for the first time, the fulfilment service provider (Article 3(13)). A fulfilment service provider is anyone who offers at least two of the following services: warehousing, packaging, addressing or dispatch. Pure parcel delivery services are not included.
This definition is central to the assessment of the three platforms: as soon as Joybuy, Temu or Shein store products in their own EU warehouses and dispatch them from there, they meet the definition of a fulfilment service provider.
Who is the responsible economic operator in a specific case is determined by a cascade in the Market Surveillance Regulation (MSR, EU 2019/1020, Art. 4(3)), to which the GPSR refers: manufacturer in the EU → authorised representative → importer → fulfilment service provider.
The logic: if no other economic operator based in the EU is identifiable further up the cascade, the fulfilment service provider becomes the responsible party. This reasoning is important for understanding the different responsibilities of the three platforms.
On Temu and Shein, it is predominantly Chinese manufacturers or traders who sell directly to European end consumers. In many cases, there is no manufacturer based in the EU, no authorised representative and no traditional importer.
As soon as platforms handle logistics via their own EU warehouses, they become fulfilment service providers – and thus slip to the bottom of the chain: they become the responsible economic operator because there is no one above them in the chain to hold accountable.
In practice, however, the enforcement of this responsibility is patchy. The market surveillance authorities of the Member States lack the staff and technical resources to systematically check the millions of products on these platforms.
The Joybuy case is significantly more complex. JD.com’s role varies depending on the product and business process:
When Joybuy purchases an Apple product, a Braun shaver or a JBL speaker and resells it to end consumers, these manufacturers have their own EU branches.
They are the responsible economic operator themselves. The manufacturer bears the responsibility for conformity; its name and EU contact details are displayed on the product. Joybuy acts here as a retailer – with reduced, limited obligations.
Brands such as Soundcore (a sub-brand of Anker Innovations) have an EU presence via Anker Innovations Deutschland GmbH in Munich.
However, the decisive factor is not whether the manufacturer exists somewhere in the EU – but whether a responsible economic operator with EU contact details is identified on the specific product. If so, Joybuy remains the distributor.
If not – for example, because the product was manufactured for the non-EU market and the labelling is missing – Joybuy moves up the chain of responsibility, even though the parent company has an EU presence.
If Joybuy purchases products from brands such as sanag or other Chinese manufacturers without an EU branch itself, imports them into its European warehouses and resells them under its own name, Joybuy becomes the importer.
In this role, the full range of importer obligations applies: conformity assessment prior to placing on the market, affixing its own name and EU contact address, product monitoring and corrective measures in the event of safety defects.
The difference from Scenario 4: Here, Joybuy not only handles the logistics but also acts as the seller itself – with correspondingly greater responsibility.
If Joybuy also operates as an open marketplace in future – i.e. Chinese traders sell their own products on the platform whilst Joybuy handles storage and dispatch – a dual responsibility arises.
As a marketplace operator, Joybuy is subject to the obligations under Article 22 of the GPSR: registration on the Safety Gate portal and cooperation with market surveillance authorities.
By taking on storage and shipping, Joybuy also becomes a fulfilment service provider. If the Chinese third-party seller has not appointed an authorised representative or importer in the EU, the cascade applies: Joybuy, as the final link with an EU headquarters, becomes the responsible economic operator.
In plain language: Joybuy becomes responsible for the safety of products it has not purchased itself – simply by taking over the physical logistics within the EU.
The roles are not exclusive – a company such as JD.com can be a trader, importer, fulfilment service provider and online marketplace all at the same time. The allocation of roles must be product-specific and transaction-specific, not applied across the board at company level.
Two questions are crucial: Who is selling – Joybuy itself or a third-party seller? And: Is a responsible economic operator with an EU establishment already identified on the product for that specific item?
Richard Liu’s announcement of his intention to establish 1,000 Chinese brands in Europe makes the direction clear: the proportion of products for which Joybuy acts as a pure retailer with graduated obligations will decrease. The proportion of products for which Joybuy itself acts as the importer or as the sole responsible economic operator in the EU will increase.
In parallel, it is to be expected that Chinese brands will also be increasingly offered via the MediaMarkt/Saturn channels – brands that have not previously been represented in the European retail sector and for which the regulatory structures (CE marking, declarations of conformity, EU authorised representatives) may first need to be established.
Currently, neither Joybuy, Temu nor Shein are subject to effective and comprehensive oversight by European market surveillance authorities. The authorities’ human and technical resources are structurally lagging behind the pace of e-commerce.
Whilst European case law on platform liability is still in its infancy, US courts have already handed down landmark rulings that could serve as a blueprint for developments in Europe.
The case of ‘Loomis v. Amazon.com LLC’ (California, 2021) concerned a hoverboard sold by a third-party seller via the Amazon Marketplace which caught fire whilst charging. The Chinese manufacturer and the US distributor had since ceased trading.
The California Court of Appeal ruled that Amazon, as an integral part of the supply chain, can be held to strict liability – that is, a form of liability that applies regardless of its own fault.
The reasoning is noteworthy: Amazon processes the payment, sets the terms for third-party sellers, has the ability to influence product safety standards, and benefits financially from every sale. As such, Amazon is not a passive marketplace, but an active participant in the supply chain.
In a parallel case (‘Bolger v. Amazon’), Amazon was also held liable where it had stored and dispatched the goods via its ‘Fulfilled by Amazon’ programme.
Both rulings mark a paradigm shift: online marketplaces can no longer hide behind their technology when they process payments, handle storage and dispatch, and set conditions for sellers. Under European law, it is precisely these activities that correspond to the roles of the importer or the fulfilment service provider – with the associated responsibilities.
With the fulfilment service provider cascade and marketplace obligations, the GPSR has already created regulatory tools that point in a similar direction to US case law. The crucial question is enforcement.
Three scenarios are conceivable:
With Joybuy, a third major Chinese player is entering the European market alongside Temu and Shein – one that differs fundamentally from the other two.
JD.com is not positioning itself as a low-cost marketplace, but as a quality retailer with its own logistics and a physical presence via MediaMarkt and Saturn. This makes the strategy particularly threatening for established European, American, Japanese and Korean brand manufacturers.
Today, Joybuy sells their products, thereby gaining reach and trust. Tomorrow – when the announced 1,000 Chinese brands arrive – the same channels will be used to position exclusive alternatives to Apple, Samsung, Sony, or Braun. Brands that are not expected to be available on Amazon or from local European retailers.
For manufacturers such as Apple, Samsung, Sony, Bosch or Philips, this means that their own distribution partners – MediaMarkt and Saturn – will in future belong to a group that openly pursues the goal of establishing Chinese competitor brands in Europe.
At the same time, due to the growing share of Chinese brands without their own EU compliance structures, JD.com is increasingly becoming the responsible economic operator who, under current legislation, should be liable for the safety of these products.
Whether this responsibility is actually monitored and enforced is currently the key unanswered question. The allocation of roles under the GPSR and the Market Surveillance Regulation is not an academic issue – it determines who should be liable in the event of damage. The fact that there is a significant gap between what should be and the reality of enforcement does not make the matter any less urgent – on the contrary.
Here is the link to the statements by JD.com founder Richard Liu: https://futurezone.at/produkte/mediamarkt-saturn-jdcom-china-billigware-chinesische-marken-das-soll-sich-aendern-strategie-online/403117398
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