Shein Shines, Driving Market Share Gains

Key Takeaways:

• Shein’s worldwide MAUs rose 31% YoY (5% QoQ) and downloads have remained robust, rising over 70% YoY in 3Q23, the fourth consecutive quarter of growth and an acceleration in the pace of growth, per Sensor Tower data

  • YTD 2023, 19% of Shein’s downloads have come from Brazil, followed by 14% from the US. Though they are small markets, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, and Philippines are growing the fastest, up 262% YoY, 141% YoY and 118% YoY, respectively

• While Shein’s organic downloads rose 68% YoY in 3Q23, this was dwarfed by growth of its paid downloads (paid + web browser), which jumped 86% YoY as it heavily leveraged advertising to drive user acquisition. With the exception of Temu, Shein has seen the largest increase in its paid downloads within Sensor Tower’s retail cohort

  • In 3Q23, Shein’s SOV on mobile ad networks exceeded that of both Temu and Walmart at 1.71%, as it ramped up its exposure on YouTube, Meta Audience Network and AdMob

• New rival Temu only launched in Sep’22 but has already grown rapidly in North America and Europe, with total MAUs of 114mn in 3Q23, nearly reaching Shein’s total MAUs of 156mn

• Users are visiting Shein’s app more often, with average session count and time spent rising 13% YoY and 2% YoY in 3Q23, respectively, as timely events and influencer promotions have driven consumer interest

  • It is notable that average time spent on Shein and Temu was about 25 min/wk in 3Q23, significantly higher than its competitors in the cohort, which averaged 11 min/wk

For more information, request the full report from reports@sensortower.com.