Shein and Temu outpace global retail giants in South Africa’s fashion market
China-founded e-commerce retailers Shein and Temu have captured a combined 3.6 per cent share of South Africa’s retail, clothing, textile, footwear and leather (CTFL) market, accounting for 7.3 billion rand (US$405 million) in sales in 2024, a report showed on Tuesday.
Shein entered the market in 2020, followed by Temu in 2024. Both have disrupted the local retail landscape through aggressive pricing, strategic marketing, and using tax loopholes that initially gave them a competitive edge over local retailers.
Their appeal to price-sensitive consumers has impacted local retailers, who urged regulators last year to close the tax loophole, which eventually ended last year.
The Localisation Support Fund (LSF) report found that domestic retailers’ market share of CTFL declined from 75.3 per cent in 2011 to 74 per cent in 2024. Meanwhile, international brick-and-mortar brands like H&M, Zara, and Cotton On hold a combined 3.4 per cent share.
Shein and Temu now command a combined 3.6 per cent share of the CTFL market, and 37.1 per cent of South Africa’s e-commerce CTFL market, with Shein alone accounting for 28 per cent of online ladies’ CTFL sales.
“Those (international) retailers have acquired this market share over a period of 13 years, and Shein and Temu have managed to match and surpass this in just a five-year period,” said Sean Mercer, principal consultant at consulting firm BMA.
- Reporting by Siyanda Mthethwa; Editing by Nqobile Dludla, Alexandra Hudson, of Reuters.
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