SHEIN Statistics – The Brand’s Place, Reach & Controversies

Kate Sukhanova

from Techreport on 2024-01-12 13:09 (#6HT0H)

As one of the world's largest fashion e-commerce retailers, SHEIN statistics and announcements are all over news. The company might be taking the world by storm, but its path hasn't been without a number of controversies.

Formerly known as ZZKKO, SHEIN was founded in 2008 by entrepreneur Chris Xu as a wedding dress e-commerce company. In the 2010s, it began to sell its womenswear in different international markets and it's currently active in over 25 countries. At the end of 2023, the retailer's mobile app surpassed 250 million downloads.

It's clear that SHEIN is gaining momentum and popularity, and is therefore worth paying attention to. In this guide, we'll go over the statistics on SHEIN usage and downloads, its performance in different markets, its associated controversies and the possible future of the retailer. Let's not waste any time!

Key SHEIN Statistics

By the end of 2023, the SHEIN app was downloaded over 251 million.
In Q1 of 2022, the SHEIN website had almost 500 million visitors, 140 million more than the previous quarter.
As of 2022, SHEIN has the largest market share of the fast fashion segment in the US at 40%.
Spain, Italy, and Saudi Arabia are the top three EMEA countries by number of SHEIN downloads, as of 2022. Spain took the lead with 6.38 million downloads.
The biggest segment of SHEIN's audience is women aged 25-34.
SHEIN was the fifth-highest-earning e-commerce store in 2022, as it made $26.15 billion in total worldwide that year.
In 2022, SHEIN reported a pre-tax profit of almost 12.2 million in the UK. The total UK revenue amounted to 1.12 billion.

SHEIN User Statistics

With over 250 million downloads in 2023 alone, SHEIN is on its way to becoming one of the biggest players in the fast fashion e-commerce segment. Let's take a close look at its downloads and visitor statistics.

Downloads

SHEIN-APP-DOWNLOADS-2020-2023.jpg?_t=170

SHEIN's download statistics speak for themselves. In the first 10 months of 2023, the SHEIN mobile app was downloaded over 208 million times worldwide, over 12 million more than in 2022. By the end of 2023, that figure exceeded 251 million.

In 2021, SHEIN was the second-most popular mobile app on both iOS and Android in the United States.

On iOS, the app was downloaded 17.64 million times, with Amazon Shopping being ahead of it by just under 8 million downloads. As for Android, SHEIN was downloaded over 13.5 million times, narrowly beating out Walmart's app.

The e-commerce tracking app Shop beat SHEIN to the first place by nearly 2 million downloads.

When it comes to SHEIN's biggest competitor, Temu, the latter has a higher overall number of downloads as of December 2023. The top five most-downloaded shopping apps in 2023 are below.

Shopping App	Number of downloads
Temu	314.19 million
SHEIN	251.56 million
Amazon Shopping	178.25 million
Shopee	152.42 million
Meesho	138.56 million

Visitor Traffic

QUARTERLY-VISITS-TO-THE-SHEIN-WEBSITE-Q1

In addition to the popularity of SHEIN's mobile app, its website is also enjoying high visitor volume. In Q1 of 2022, it had almost 500 million visitors, up 140 million versus the previous quarter.

The popularity of the retailer's website is comparable with other major retailers' portals, such as Amazon, Temu, and AliExpress.

While Amazon remains the overall winner in terms of unique visitor numbers (at least in the US), with over 631 million unique American visitors in Q1 of 2023.

SHEIN is the third-most-popular retailer website, having gained almost 113 million visitors in the quarter. That's more than the AliExpress website, which had 57.7 million visitors during that period.

SHEIN Statistics by Region

which-countries-downloaded-shein-the-mos

But how popular is SHEIN around the world? What's its biggest market and how well-known is it in certain countries?

In this section, we'll go through the statistics about SHEIN's popularity in different regions, such as EMEA, the Americas, and APAC.

The Americas

Copy-of-MOST-POPULAR-UK-AIRPORTS-FOR-CHR

The three countries with the most SHEIN downloads in the Americas in 2022 were Brazil, the US, and Mexico, with Brazil having the most downloads (almost 52 million, or 24% of the country's population). The US had 27.25 million downloads, and Mexico 17.26 million.

As of 2022, SHEIN has the largest market share of the fast fashion segment in the US at 40%, followed by H&M (27%) and Zara (17%). Its size grew considerably over the past few years, seeing as it was only at 18% in 2020.

However, SHEIN's brand awareness level in the US, 63% as of 2023, is somewhat behind other bigger fashion brands, such as Macy's (88%) and Gap (86%). Despite that, the company's level of brand recognition is still higher than that of its main fast fashion competitors you can see on the infographic above, such as Zara (49%).

In Canada, the SHEIN app isn't as popular as it is in its southern neighbors, but people do use it. In November 2023, the mobile app was downloaded over 275,000 times by Canadians. SHEIN's peak month in Canada, however, was May 2020, when it was downloaded almost 325,000 times.

EMEA

Source: Statista

Spain, Italy, and Saudi Arabia are the top three EMEA countries by SHEIN downloads, as of 2022. Spain took the lead with 6.38 million downloads, Italy had 5.49 million, and KSA 5.19 million. The UK had less than 4 million downloads.

Other EMEA countries also like to use SHEIN mobile app for online shopping, thanks to the low prices and convenience. For example, SHEIN is the second-most popular shopping app in the Netherlands and Belgium, after Temu, with 1.7 million and 1.5 million downloads, respectively.

In terms of brand awareness, the situation with SHEIN in EMEA is similar to that in the US. For example, in the UK, it's far from the most well-known fashion e-commerce stores. SHEIN's level of brand awareness in the UK is at 64%. To compare, other popular British online retailers like Argos, Primark, and NEXT, have a 94% brand awareness level.

APAC

Source: Statista

Japan and the Philippines have seen the most SHEIN downloads in APAC in 2022, with 10.12 million and 7.87 million downloads, respectively. In South East Asian countries, SHEIN was downloaded 17.73 million times in 2022 in total.

As you can see from the statistics above, over 28% of Japanese consumers don't wish to use SHEIN at all. However, almost 26% would want to buy from it for a specific occasion.

In terms of SHEIN brand awareness, statistics tell us that the majority of consumers in Japan (over 52%) have never heard of SHEIN. Only 10.8% know of it and have shopped there, and 36.4% have heard of it, even though they never used it.

SHEIN Audience Statistics shein-4.jpg?_t=1704746501

Source: Similarweb

SHEIN's primary target audiences are young women under 35 interested in the latest fashion trends. And according to visitor statistics for October-December 2023 provided by Similarweb, the biggest segment of SHEIN's audience is women aged 25-34.

That trend has seemingly been going on for a while. According to Statista, women made up 65% of the website's visitors in December 2022, and 29.4% of all SHEIN visitors were aged 25-34.

That's not to say SHEIN doesn't appeal to other segments. A report by UBS stipulates that an average SHEIN consumer is a woman aged 34.7, making her a bit older than a typical Generation Z consumer SHEIN has been focusing their strategy on.

SHEIN Market Share & Sales Statistics shein-5-1200x629.jpg?_t=1704747769

Source: Statista

As one of the top 5 unicorns" valued at $65 billion, SHEIN's financial and market positions are very solid. In this section, we'll take a look at the company's place in the fast fashion market and its sales figures.

SHEIN in Fast Fashion Market Monosnap-Shein-hits-1bn-UK-sales-as-it-b

Source: Retail Gazette

The fast fashion market is forecast to be worth $185 billion by 2027, representing a growth of almost $80 billion from 2022. In the previous sections, we specified that SHEIN has the largest market share of the fast fashion market in different locations, especially the US. In 2022, its market share in the US was 40%.

Indeed, SHEIN has added more styles to its US website than any other fast fashion retailer in 2022 - almost 315,000. To compare, Zara added a little over 6,800 styles and H&M added 4,414.

In other countries, SHEIN's market share is also significant, especially in the Americas. For instance, in Mexico, it was the third-most-popular fashion retailer in 2021, with a market share of 6.9%.

In Europe, SHEIN is less prolific, although still very popular.

For instance, its French market share is 5.9%, and it was the sixth-most-popular fashion retailer (Vinted is the first, with a 16.7% market share) in 2021. And in the UK, where SHEIN faces competition from popular fast fashion retailers like Primark, its market share has nonetheless increased from 1.7% to 2.2% in 2023.

SHEIN Sales Statistics shein-6-1200x629.jpg?_t=1704750544

Source: Statista

Unsurprisingly, Amazon was the top-earning e-commerce store in 2022, having earned $133.5 billion worldwide in revenue. However, SHEIN was in the fifth place of that rating, as it made $26.15 billion in total in 2022 worldwide.

SHEIN also performed well in local markets, as well as on the global scale. For example, in Canada, it was the fifth-highest-earning e-commerce store in 2022, having made $179 million.

The European market has also been successful. Spain, which is home to the highest number of SHEIN app downloads in Europe, brought SHEIN $858 million in revenue in 2022 alone.

The company's UK business is showing financial resilience as well. In 2022, SHEIN reported a pre-tax profit of almost 12.2 million in the country. The total UK revenue amounted to 1.12 billion.

SHEIN Associated Controversies

SHEIN's success and popularity do, however, come with a price. The company and the brand have been subject to various concerns and controversies throughout the years. We'll look at the most significant ones now.

Sustainability Concerns

A big part of SHEIN's success is the fast fashion industry and the ability to release low-priced pieces that are on-trend quickly. However, fast fashion is an industry that's far from environmentally friendly, and the approach has led to significant sustainability concerns.

The company's supply chain and sourcing practices are a big reason for these concerns. SHEIN was accused of using forced labor and hazardous materials in the production of their clothing.

The high-speed, high-volume approach of the company means excessive use of energy, long working hours and significant waste generation. The Fashion Transparency Index 2022 gave SHEIN the lowest score of 0-5%.

SHEIN vs. Temu Lawsuits

The two big e-commerce retailers have been engaged in significant legal battles over the last few years, ranging from mutual impersonation to anti-trust. Although they attempted to settle their lawsuits in October 2023, the legal issues seem to have re-ignited just two months later.

The latest lawsuit, filed by Temu in December 2023 in the US District Court for DC, claims that SHEIN used intimidation and bullying on their suppliers in China, even using threatening tactics and confiscating telephones. Temu accuses SHEIN of unlawful interference. The lawsuit has the potential to undermine SHEIN's upcoming IPO plans.

Artists' Lawsuits & Disputes

Temu isn't the only party that's using the law to settle disputes with SHEIN, however. At least three independent designers filed legal claims against the retailer in July of last year for copyright infringement of their work.

This is not the first time the company has had to deal with a copyright controversy. Earlier that year, a nail artist accused SHEIN of appropriating her work in their nail stickers. And in 2021, many indie brands accused SHEIN of copying their designs.

Is SHEIN Here to Stay?

Fast fashion is a huge industry where SHEIN has established itself as a major player. However, with consumers becoming more environmentally conscious and shopping more sustainably, the retailer might have a hard time in the future, not least because of the significant sustainability concerns that have been following it for many years.

With more people embracing slow fashion, especially the younger generation, SHEIN is likely to find it challenging to continue catering to the preferences of its target audience. We look forward to seeing how the company is going to address the aforementioned concerns and seeing how it'll evolve with the needs and desires of its target market.

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The post SHEIN Statistics - The Brand's Place, Reach & Controversies appeared first on The Tech Report.

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