Finnish retailers sell China-made goods at higher prices

Finnish retailers sell products that appear identical to items on Temu, Shein and Alibaba, often at several times the price, Yle reports. The companies frequently obscure the products’ Chinese origins, although retailers are responsible for testing and ensuring the safety of goods they sell.

Yle compared marketing images used by Finnish companies with those used by Chinese online marketplaces. It found similar products in the ranges of Biltema, Clas Ohlson, HalpaHalli, Kärkkäinen, Motonet, Puuilo, Rusta, Säästökuoppa and Tokmanni.

One example is a Prego massage gun sold by Tokmanni for 29.99 euros. The same-looking product is also sold by other Finnish department stores, including Kärkkäinen. On Alibaba, wholesalers can buy the device for just over three euros.

Kärkkäinen markets Prego as a brand with more than 70 years of experience in the Finnish home appliance and consumer electronics sector. However, the massage gun is made in China and is sold in discount marketplaces around the world, including Temu.

The product packaging identifies Prego’s parent company, Inbound, as the importer rather than the manufacturer. It does not disclose the country of origin, which is not required for all product categories.

“The industry generally emphasises product features rather than the country of origin,” Inbound chief executive Berndt Krause told Yle.

Products sold through Finnish retailers must nevertheless be examined and tested before being placed on the market. Consumers buying from a Finnish retailer are paying for a product that has been certified and is presumed to be safe.

Biltema presents itself as the manufacturer

Biltema’s online store sells an earbud-cleaning tool that looks exactly like a much cheaper product on Temu. In its marketing, Biltema presents itself as the manufacturer of the product and says it was manufactured in Sweden, although the item was ordered from a Chinese factory.

Biltema says it does not disclose the product’s origin on its website because the law does not require it to do so.

Under the EU’s General Product Safety Regulation, a company is considered the manufacturer when it sells and markets a product under its own trademark, Biltema marketing manager Joonas Leinonen said.

Juha Beurling-Pomoell, secretary general of the Consumers’ Union of Finland, said there is no legal problem with this type of marketing, although it may mislead consumers. In legislation, a manufacturer can be a company that has made, commissioned or designed a product, he said.

The manufacturer is responsible for ensuring that a product complies with EU regulations and is safe to use.

Similar products may differ in quality

Beurling-Pomoell said products that look the same may have different levels of safety. The same factory may produce one version for Chinese online marketplaces and another for the European market. The versions imported for the European market are generally the ones considered safe to handle and use.

However, he said neither version is necessarily of particularly high quality. He also estimated that 80 to 90 percent of products sold through the platforms may be dangerous. They may contain allergenic or carcinogenic chemicals, or have such poorly made electrical components that they catch fire while charging.

Consumers concerned about product safety should shop at Finnish department stores rather than Chinese online marketplaces, Beurling-Pomoell said.