The "Four Little Dragons Going Global" dominate the 2023 global shopping app rankings

On January 17, 2024, the authoritative data analysis organization data.ai released its latest "2024 Mobile Market Report", which showed that the top four in the global shopping app download growth rate ranking in 2023 will be occupied by China's "Four Little Dragons Going Global", namely SHEIN, AliExpress, Pinduoduo 's cross-border Temu and ByteDance 's TikTok Shop .

According to preliminary estimates by the customs, cross-border e-commerce imports and exports will reach 2.38 trillion yuan in 2023, an increase of 15.6%. The development of cross-border e-commerce is closely related to the rapid growth of cross-border e-commerce platforms represented by the "Four Little Dragons" in overseas markets .

In recent years, the "Four Little Dragons Going Global" have relied on China's high-quality supply chain, expanded their user base through cost-effectiveness and social marketing strategies, and won a place in both developed and developing markets, and the scale of their overseas users has grown rapidly.

Taking the Korean market, which ranks fifth in the world , as an example, data from data.ai shows that AliExpress is the most downloaded shopping app in South Korea in 2023 .

According to Korean media reports, in November 2023 , the number of active users of AliExpress in South Korea surpassed that of Gmarket , a long-established local e-commerce company , becoming the third largest e-commerce platform in South Korea . This is the first time that a foreign e-commerce company has appeared in the top three e-commerce platforms in South Korea.

Looking back at 2023, the "Four Little Dragons Going Global" ushered in a new era of cross-border e-commerce, fully embracing "full trusteeship". Entering 2024, the cross-border circle has set off a new wave. In early January, AliExpress announced the full launch of "semi-trusteeship" to upgrade the logistics of self-operated merchants (i.e. POP merchants). Subsequently, several announcements were issued in a row for half a month, and "semi-trusteeship" support measures such as commission reduction, warehouse rent-related fees reduction, and early loan issuance were launched at great expense.

Some industry insiders have analyzed that full trusteeship may not be suitable for all merchants, and "semi-trusteeship" is precisely to enable these merchants to quickly catch up with the cross-border bonus period. Recently, the number of inquiries about semi-trusteeship on AliExpress has increased fivefold, and many merchants with daily sales of over 10,000 have emerged. 2024 is expected to be the year of "semi-trusteeship".

SHEIN

Global Shopping App Rankings