Despite trade wars and mounting scrutiny, Chinese shopping apps dominate U.S. phones, proving they continue to reshape American online shopping habits. According to data presented by Stocklytics.com, the two largest Chinese shopping apps, Temu and Shein, hit nearly 780 million downloads last year, and Americans made up around 20% of that figure.
Temu and Shein Hit Four Times more Downloads than Amazon
Trump’s escalating trade wars and massive tariffs on China didn’t just hit factories and exporters. They have also sent shockwaves through the global ecommerce space, where Chinese apps like Temu and Shein reign supreme. Both controversial, ultra-cheap shopping apps enjoy massive popularity in the United States, showing the surprising resilience of U.S. consumer spending in fast-fashion and discount ecommerce spaces.
Their popularity has grown even more amid rising prices and ongoing inflation fears, so it’s reasonable that President Trump wants to push U.S. consumers to spend more on domestic products. But the download figures tell it will be challenging to force this shift.
According to Stocklytics` analysis based on AppMagic data, Temu and Shein hit 780 million downloads in 2024, an average of 65 million per month, leaving all other major ecommerce players far behind. The absolute king of the ecommerce space in gross merchandise value, Amazon, was left three places behind, with 166 million downloads, or four times more than the two apps. Statistics show Temu alone hit three times more downloads than Amazon, or 544 million, while Shein was ahead with nearly 70 million downloads. With Temu seeing around one billion monthly visits in the first three months of the year, it’s hard to believe these figures will change in 2025.
However, breaking Temu’s and Shein’s download figures by country is even more interesting. The AppMagic data, published earlier this month, shows that the United States and Mexico were the largest markets for Temu, contributing about a third of the total app downloads since its release.
U.S. consumers alone made 23% of all downloads, followed by Mexicans with a 10% share. All other countries were far below these figures, with Brazil (7%), Pakistan (4%), and the United Kingdom (4%) rounding out the top five markets. Shein download figures tell the same story, with the U.S. consumers making 36 million or 15% of all app downloads last year, trailing only Mexicans.
Amazon Tops in Gross Merchandise Value, but 70% of its Products are Made in China
It’s a bit ironic that while Amazon represents American e-commerce success, Chinese products are the backbone of its marketplace. According to a survey conducted by Jungle Scout and published by the ECDB last year, over 70% of all products sold on Amazon in 2024 were made in China. That means Amazon sells 2.4 times more products from China than from the United States, illustrating China’s importance for Amazon’s business.
U.S. products had a much smaller share and accounted for 30% of all total goods sold through the U.S. e-commerce giant, while India stood in third place with a 14% share.
