We know that e-commerce companies that are not listed do not have any obligation to publish their revenue and profit numbers out in the public. This is why we don’t know what they are doing unless and until they file to go public. However, Shein is one e-commerce brand that does more than what the market thinks. Jamie Salter, the founder and CEO of privately owned brand management firm Authentic Brands Group revealed that “Shein is the fastest growing fashion retailer in the world, if not the biggest fashion retailer in the world,” “There’s talks that they do 30 billion, do they do 40 billion? Do they do 35 billion? I’m not going to tell you exactly what they do, but I can tell you they do a lot more than $30 billion,”. It is worth noting that while Shein does not disclose its financials. However, it may soon have to after the retailer confidentially filed to go public in the U.S., following torrid growth and months of efforts to resolve a range of concerns lawmakers had about its business practices.
Salter is familiar with Shein’s financials because of a partnership he inked with the company last summer. As part of the deal, Shein acquired about a third of Sparc Group, a joint venture that includes Authentic and Simon Property. Sparc took a minority stake in Shein Group. It is also to be noted that “Sparc is the operator of Forever 21, which Authentic owns. As part of the partnership, Shein has begun selling a co-branded clothing line with Forever 21 and hosting pop-up events at the retailer’s many mall stores.”
Very little is known about Shein’s financials, but bits and pieces have leaked to the press in recent years as the retailer has geared up for an initial public offering. The best Shein revenue figure available came in a Wall Street Journal story in May, which said the company did $23 billion in sales in 2022, citing people close to the company. The outlet reported that Shein had set a target to grow sales by 40% in 2023, which would have brought its revenue above $30 billion. It is unclear if the company hit that goal.
