The clothing and footwear giant has already surpassed Sweden's H&M in revenue and “threatens” Zara
Shein's revenue rose to $24 billion in the first nine months of 2023, up from $23 billion for the full year last year. [REUTERS]
The Chinese fast fashion brand, Shein, is still “running” at a fast pace, after within a few years it has managed to expand to such an extent around the world that it is now ready to overtake its competitors, H&M and Zara.< /p>
The privately held Singapore-based company's revenue rose to $24 billion in the first nine months of 2023, up from $23 billion for the full year last year. In addition, last year it recorded a net profit of $800 million, and it had set a goal of increasing its revenue by 40% by the end of this year, which it looks like it will achieve.
< p>Financial figures show the Chinese clothing and footwear giant has already overtaken Sweden's H&M. The company, officially known as H&M Hennes & Mauritz AB, reported $16.4 billion in revenue and $8.2 billion in gross profit for the nine-month period from December 1, 2022 to August 31, 2023. Inditex, the Spanish fashion giant that owns Zara, had revenue of 18 .3 billion in the six months from February 1 to July 31 and gross profit of $10.6 billion.
At a time when the company has faced allegations from the US government over forced labor, questionable procurement, intellectual property violations and exploitation of trade loopholes, among other things, it is preparing to go public in 2024. Shein was recently valued at $66 billion, a third less than the $100 billion it was valued at last year, but at the same time has the backing of major investors.
Emerging from the pandemic, the fashion brand has attracted customers with its ultra-low prices, such as $3 shirts and $12 dresses, targeting women who want to be fashionable, but without spending a lot of money.
As of March 2020, Shein held 18% of the US fast fashion market share, according to a US-China Economic and Security Commission (USCC) survey. That share shot up to 40% within two years. By November 2022, Shein accounted for 50% of all fast fashion sales, ahead of H&M (16%) and Zara (13%).
However Shein has no intention of stop yet The fast-fashion e-tailer wants to become a new Amazon as it encourages online stores to sign up to its platform, offering incentives to merchants who make $2 million a year.
At the same time, while Shein sells up to now online, this year it closed a partnership with the American chain Forever 21 to sell merchandise and use brick-and-mortar stores for purchases and returns. In August, Shein announced that she had reached 150 million users.
Despite the fact that she still has a long way to go before she can be crowned the “queen” of fast fashion, let alone become the next Amazon. , the speed with which it expanded into the US market in just three years is no easy feat.
