TikTok Shop taking Shein customer spend

Access chart in Dash.

Shein shoppers are replacing their Shein spending with spending directly on the TikTok app according to Earnest credit card data. The data suggests TikTok is no longer just for product discovery. The social media platform’s Shop is now processing meaningful gross merchandise value headed into the holiday shopping season.

Earnest’s share of wallet analysis, which isolates spend by a brand’s existing customers across that brand’s competitors, suggests that TikTok Shop’s rise has had the most impact on Shein so far. Shein customers spent 47% of their ecommerce discount wallet on the platform in the first 18 days of November 2023, down from 80% in April when TikTok Shop transactions began. This despite Shein acquiring fast fashion brand Forever 21 in an attempt to bring more customers onto its platform. Shein customers spent 35% of their ecommerce discount wallet at Temu in the first half of November, up from 20% in April, not long after the discounter surpassed Shein as the largest US online discounter. 

TikTok Shop’s lopsided impact on Shein over Temu could suggest that consumers are buying clothing on TikTok Shop. The cohort of TikTok Shop customers spent 63% of their ecommerce discount wallet on the TikTok Shop in the first half of November (Access chart in Dash).