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Shein, the fast-fashion e-tail behemoth on the brink of a potential London IPO, dominates in apparel—and it’s coming for beauty, too.
The Chinese-founded retailer, which was valued at $66 billion during its most recent funding round last spring and, according to GlobalData, is estimated to have netted roughly $45 billion in revenue in 2023—up from $22 billion in 2022—has been quietly building a similarly trend-driven color cosmetics arm, called SheGlam.
Best known for its steady stream of buzzy IP collaborations and its viral Color Bloom Liquid Blush, which retails for $5.99 and, according to Market Defense, ranks as the second-highest selling blush on Amazon (after E.l.f. Cosmetics’ Monochromatic Multi Stick, $5), SheGlam debuted in 2019 via a storefront on the Shein website.
A stand-alone site was launched in December 2020, and the brand added its third point of sale at Amazon two years later, where it did just over $2 million in sales in 2023 and is on track to reach more than $5 million this year, per Market Defense.
But Amazon looks to be the smallest channel by a long shot for the brand, which is available online in more than 150 countries and is quickly betting big on brick-and-mortar retail.
In terms of its overall business, one source posited that SheGlam could be doing between 0.5 percent to 1 percent of Shein’s total business, which would put the brand at between $225 million to $450 million in sales.
“Brick-and-mortar accounts for something like 90 percent of market share for many color cosmetics brands, so in order for us to drive more growth and achieve our goal of engaging with a larger community—that’s where we need to be,” said Tony Li, who joined SheGlam as vice president, general manager in March. He declined to comment on the sales figure. Previously, he held senior marketing roles at Youth to the People, JVN and E.l.f. Beauty.
After striking partnerships with Mawarid Trading Ltd. and Lifestyle at Centrepoint last year, SheGlam made its brick-and-mortar foray at the UAE’s Mall of the Emirates in November 2023, where it sells at department store Centrepoint alongside brands like NYX Professional Makeup and Maybelline New York. It added Dubai Mall and Dubai Hills shortly thereafter, and reportedly plans to grow...