Global fast fashion giant Shein has overtaken The Iconic in terms of total website traffic in October 2024, according to new stats from SEO platform Semrush.
Shein is now second to Myer in terms of the most visited apparel and fashion websites in Australia.
According to Semrush, Shein accrued a total of 5,494,372 visits in October, with the average number of pages per visit at around 6.72.
This is ahead of The Iconic, which recorded a total of 5,150,198 visits, however its average page visits is at 9.64.
Myer leads the Australian fashion space with a total of 9,412,403 visits in October, with the average pages per visit at 4.44.
Despite the shifts in total page visits, The Iconic has the lowest bounce rate across the top ten fashion websites in Australia at 27.62 per cent. Bounce rate is the amount of visitors that exit a webpage without taking an action.
Shein has a bounce rate of 44.57 per cent and Myer at 45.21 per cent, with the only other business in the top 20 fashion websites in Australia recording a low bounce rate being Glassons at 27.36 per cent
In a recent article by Ragtrader, Roy Morgan head of retail research, social and consumer trends Laura Demasi said there is a trading down boom happening post-COVID and consumers are buying less.
“The big winners have been the online marketplaces - Amazon, and of course the ultra cheap platforms Shein and Temu,” Demasi said. “All have experienced strong growth over 2024 at a time when most other retailers have struggled.
“Amazon added one million shoppers to its customer base in the year to June 2024, while both Temu and Shein increased their shopper numbers by around 30 per cent since the end of last year.”
Demasi added that Kmart has also massively benefited from this trend. Semrush stats shows that Kmart’s website received 19,553,624 visitors in October, sitting at seventh place - ahead of Coles and behind Woolworths.
OzBargain leads the retail space in Australia with 79,020,328 visits, ahead of Amazon at 67,449,677 and eBay at 41,438,887.
“[Kmart] reported a 6.3 per cent increase in sales for FY24 - as people spent more of their shrinking discretionary incomes at Kmart to make those precious dollars stretch as far as possible,” Demasi said.
“As much as some of the more premium retailers don’t want to admit it - the likes of David Jones, Myer and The Iconic - Kmart, Temu, Shein and Amazon have all been chipping away at their sales.
“Initially, these retailers did not believe they had the same customer, and that was probably true a year or 18 months ago - especially Kmart, Temu and Shein - but that’s changed, there’s lots of cross over now.
“As cost of living pressures mount and there’s literally almost nothing left at the end of the fortnight or month, all sorts of people are trading down, whether you’re in a $250,000 income household or an $80,000 income household. The full spectrum of people are swapping out the $80 white t-shirt from David Jones or The Iconic for the $10 one at Kmart or the $5 one from Temu.”
Meanwhile, Semrush stats show that David Jones is in fourth place as the most visited apparel and fashion websites in Australia, followed by shop.app in fifth place, then Cotton On, Uniqlo, Asos, JD Sports, and Depop.