After a year in India, Shein crosses 5 million downloads in India, targets non-metro cities

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Sep 7, 2018

The Chinese online fashion platform Shein has completed a year of retailing in India and has reported over five million downloads in the country. Now the business will expand to target non-metro locations.

Shein entered India a year ago and now delivers to over 15,000 pin codes in Tier 1 and 2 locations in the country. Moving forward, the business aims to expand its distribution network to reach more rural locations.

“India is a very important market for us and we think there is a huge opportunity in the tier-III and IV towns,” Malcolm Yam, Shein’s India general manager told ET Tech. “This is why we have started partnering with local designers to create fusion and Indo-western outfits for the Indian audience.”

In order to cater to customers in non-metro locations, the platform will stock more Indian style clothing to cater to more rural tastes. The Chinese business retails mainly Western clothing with a Chinese aesthetic but could soon be sticking kurtas and traditional wear for its Indian clientele.

The business has reported tripling its business in India in under a year and now reports over a million daily active users with 10,000 orders a day. The average order value on the platform is between Rs 1,000 and Rs 1,500.

Shein is one of several large Chinese online fashion businesses that have started retailing in India. Club Factory and Ali Express among others are also expanding in the country and, along with Shein, are in the top ten best performing Chinese e-commerce apps in India.