Shein, BYD, Tmall: The 2025 China pressure

Chinese companies are reshaping entire industries in 2025, from Temu’s $9 billion U.S. e-commerce surge to BYD outselling Tesla in electric vehicles, forcing Western brands to fundamentally rethink their strategies to compete. Fast-fashion players are repositioning as premium because their once-cheap prices have been challenged by the likes of Temu and Shein. Chinese automotive brands are piling pressure on car brands to go electric, livestream shopping is taking over platforms like TikTok, and China’s rapid adoption of AI, such as the cost-effective DeepSeek model, has rocked the tech world. Despite now expanding at a slower pace than previous decades — GDP growth was 11.4% in 2007, versus 5.0% in 2024 — China remains the second-largest economy. Turbo-fashion effect PDD Holdings-owned Temu and Chris Xu-founded Shein have completely uprooted the fast-fashion landscape. Both companies reportedly add up to 10,000 new items to their platform every day, with many items priced under a dollar. In 2024, Temu achieved remarkable expansion, reaching more than 484 million app downloads globally — that’s more people than the entire population of the U.S. By October last year, its monthly active users in the U.S. alone had climbed to 185.6 million, based on data from Backlinko. Shein was the fastest growing retailer of the global apparel market in 2024, according to London-based analytics company Global Data. “Shein’s meteoric rise has subsequently taken share away from other fast fashion online pureplays, especially Asos and boohoo.com, which have seen their sales plummet over the past few years,” data firm’s senior apparel analyst Pippa Stephens wrote in a press release. As a result of Chinese juggernauts slashing prices through the elimination of middlemen and streamlining Made-in-China-manufacturing, Western fast-fashion brands have been forced to undergo a rebrand, resulting in some critics calling a widespread “high street identity crisis.” Some high-street brands are pivoting toward a more premium proposition. From the plethora of high-fashion collaborations such as Mango x Victoria Beckham or Samuel Ross’ SR_A Engineered by Zara, to hiring former luxury house designers to elevate their perceived-value — ex-Chloe and Givenchy, Clare Waight Keller is now creative director at Uniqlo. Manchester-based PrettyLittleThing (PLT), once queen of low-cost, even embraced a controversial “luxury” rebrand earlier this year. There was a runway-style presentation during London Fashion Week, a new logo, and marketing that mimicked the aesthetics of high-end houses. Critics were quick to point out the dissonance between the label’s ultra-fast production model and its newfound aspiration. Yet, in a market where Chinese platforms like Temu and Shein now undercut nearly everyone, PLT had little choice but to shift the narrative. Automotives: China vs the rest of the world Pressure from China’s electric vehicle (EV) sector is evident in a myriad of ways. Foremost, the rise of domestic automotive brands is noticeable across China sales, as shown in the latest 2024 earnings results: Ferrari delivered strong Q1 results with a 13% revenue increase, despite a 24% sales drop in China. BMW saw revenue and profit fall by 7.8% and 26.4%, respectively, with a drop of 17% in China, but EV sales did surge 28.5%. Mercedes-Benz reported a 43% profit plunge and withdrew its full-year outlook due to tariff uncertainty. Audi grew EV sales 30%, countering a global sales dip, but faced margin pressure and China market challenges. In contrast to this, brands hailing from the mainland are generating revenue growth. Due to the pressure from Chinese EV success, European brands are drilling down on their legacy storytelling, which is one strength that China does not have, says General Motors Design Director Julian Thomson. “Chinese manufacturers can talk about performance, reliability and price, and a lot about technology,” he says. “But, what they don't have is legacy. When people buy anything, a watch, a shoe , a house, they do want history behind it. European manufacturers are now upping their game on legacy.” That is why we are seeing a rise in cultural storytelling, from brand collaborations to celebrity partnerships. Mercedes-Benz, for example, leaned hard into the zeitgeist with its new CLA launch, tapping creative collaborators like KidSuper, Hot Wheels, and Ice Spice. Seeing as Chinese EV companies are leading in offering cost-effective tech — in 2024, for example, BYD outsold Tesla in the UK market — Western marques are having to truly tap into what they are good at: legacy is their competitive edge. The new face of e-commerce While Western e-commerce players scramble to survive — Farfetch bailed out by Coupang, Matches gone, and Yoox-Net-A-Porter still flailing — China’s e-commerce ecosystem is going from strength to strength. In fact, platforms like JD.com, Tmall, and Taobao have been entirely reinventing the global online shopping experience. Along with the stellar performance of e-commerce powerhouses in China, the market has also reshaped the social commerce sphere. Due to the hyper-convenience of China’s online retail offerings, consumers hailing from the mainland prefer to shop in brick-and-mortar stores when overseas e-commerce fails them. Additionally, China’s influence on the global livestream industry is particularly notable. The mainland has advanced global e-commerce by pioneering platforms foremost as entertainment, and secondarily for shopping. That perspective is behind the ByteDance revolution: TikTok shopping. According to Neilson IQ, TikTok Shop was the fastest growing online retailer in 2024. There are currently over 200,000 active sellers on the video-sharing platform, according to a March report. The model of selling via videos is very much a Chinese phenomenon that has taken over the West. Platforms like Alibaba, JD.com, and Pinduoduo have innovated online retail through livestream shopping, mobile-first payment systems, and AI-driven personalization. The widespread use of super apps like WeChat, which combine messaging, payments, and storefronts, has also set a new standard for frictionless consumer experiences. Beyond products and industry trends, China’s soaring influence is impacting the evolution of global consumption. From livestream shopping, to fashion and automotives, it is becoming more evident that brands have no choice but to track the market in order to foreshadow upcoming trends.

Shein, BYD, Tmall: The 2025 China pressure

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Published June 06, 2025

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Shein, BYD, Tmall: The 2025 China pressure