An analysis of credit and debit card data shows TikTok Shop passed Shein and Temu in US sales in January 2025, growing 153% to Shein's 26% and Temu's 28%
The popular video app, which brought in-app shopping to its millions of American users in 2023, continued to surpass Shein …
Context & Ripple Effects
TikTok’s move into US commerce followed its planned launch of a marketplace for made-in-China goods in 2023, positioning it directly against the two discount-shopping platforms. Earlier card data had shown Temu ahead of Shein in US spending, so the January reading marks a further reshuffling among the three.
The result matters because TikTok is converting an existing US audience into a commerce channel rather than competing only through standalone shopping apps. It also arrives as card-data tracking showed sales pressure on Shein and Temu after China trade measures were targeted, underscoring how quickly relative positions can move.
First-order effects
- TikTok Shop becomes the leading US-sales performer in this card-data comparison for January, after 153% growth, while Shein and Temu lag at 26% and 28% growth respectively.
- Shein and Temu face a more credible US rival that combines product discovery and checkout inside the same consumer app.
Second-order effects
- The comparison raises the competitive value of in-app product discovery: Shein and Temu must contend with a rival whose shopping funnel begins in video consumption rather than a dedicated retail destination.
- Relative sales rankings may remain volatile where policy developments affect cross-border discount commerce, as the earlier post-trade-measure sales declines for Shein and Temu illustrate.
Third-order effects
- If this performance persists, US discount e-commerce could shift from a contest between standalone marketplaces toward social platforms that own both attention and transaction flow.
- The broader category may become more exposed to changes in trade policy and payment-data indicators, making scale alone a less durable measure of competitive position.
The trend: TikTok Shop’s rise is one data point in the convergence of social-video distribution and marketplace checkout, with cross-border retail competition increasingly shaped by both engagement and policy exposure.