How popular are Chinese shopping apps with Gen Z?
A survey reveals how frequently Gen Z consumers shop via Chinese apps such as Temu, Shein, TikTok Shop and AliExpress — and which one is tops.
Almost three-in-four (73%) Gen Z respondents have shopped at Chinese online marketplaces Temu, Shein, TikTok Shop and AliExpress in the past year, according to a survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers from e-commerce marketing company Omnisend. One-in-four (24%) shop using them once a week.
Shein is ranked as the most popular Chinese shopping app among Gen Z respondents, with 44% making at least one purchase there on a monthly basis, almost two times more than respondents from older generations (23%).
Temu is ranked second, with 41% of Gen Z respondents making at least one purchase there on a monthly basis, followed by TikTok Shop (36%) and AliExpress (24%).
Gen respondents rate their Shein and TikTok Shop experience 7.1 on a scale on one to 10, and their Temu shopping experience 6.4 out of 10. Interestingly, Amazon outranked all the Chinese shopping apps among Gen Z respondents with an eight-out-of-10 favorability rating.
Other findings
Omnisend’s survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers is a subset of a larger survey of 4,000 consumers from the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia. Significant findings from the full respondent set include:
- Respondents identify low prices as the biggest advantage for Temu (58%) and Shein (49%).
- Almost two-in-three (63%) respondents have shopped via Temu, Shein or other Chinese apps in the past year.
- One-in-10 respondents, including one in five U.S. respondents, shop via Chinese app at least once per week.
- Seventeen percent of respondents think Temu will eventually overtake Amazon.
- Women shop on Chinese marketplaces more frequently and rate them more highly than men.
[READ MORE: How do consumers compare Amazon and Temu?]
The survey was commissioned by Omnisend and conducted by Cint in April 2024. A total of 4,000 respondents were surveyed across the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia.
