"Ice and Snow Economy" Pays Off: SHEIN Sellers Saw an 8-fold Sales Increase at the Start of 2024

[Ebrun Original] Skiing is one of the most popular winter sports worldwide. With the Northern Hemisphere entering the "frozen" mode this year, sales of skiing and winter sports equipment have entered a golden phase of market activity.

According to the authoritative overseas agency Statista, there are nearly 15 million skiers and over 400 professional ski resorts in the United States alone. The global outdoor sports e-commerce market is expected to reach $119.1 billion by 2027.

For skiing enthusiasts, professional gear and stylish ski wear are essential. As a major producer and exporter of outdoor sports products, China's industry has seized significant business opportunities. Ebrun learned from the trendy cross-border e-commerce platform SHEIN that since January, the search volume for "winter sports" related products has surged by 40%. Outdoor sports, including skiing products, have become one of the most popular and fastest-growing categories on the platform. Many sellers have ushered in a surging start to their 2024 sales within the booming ice and snow economy, with sales increasing several times over.

New forces in cross-border sales: "Winter sports" product listings have increased eightfold in several months

In North American and European markets, cool new skiing products made in China are much sought after by skiing enthusiasts. Many cross-border sellers specializing in outdoor sports products have chosen to seize the potential opportunity presented by "winter sports", aiming to capitalize on the growing overseas market.

Yu Qiang, a seller who joined the SHEIN platform last autumn/winter, has seen his sales increase by 8 times within a few months. Ski-related socks and gloves are his golden selling points. While Chinese skiing consumers favor mostly plain-colored products, overseas consumers accept a wider range of bright colors, illuminating Yu's first discovery of market differentiation.

Yu Qiang remarked that cross-border e-commerce was once a foreign and challenging professional field for him. Due to his limited knowledge and linguistic abilities, as well as a lack of overseas experience, it was unthinkable for him to sell products directly to foreign customers. However, he stumbled upon the SHEIN seller page by chance in a friend's company, where concise page layouts, clear guidance, and many short free courses made him feel that the "threshold was not so high". Opening a cross-border store wasn't as difficult as he had previously thought.

The SHEIN platform first provided a set of training courses, aiding sellers in quickly understanding the basics and operational skills of cross-border e-commerce. Its user-friendly seller platform allowed him to focus on product promotion and sales. As Yu had accumulated a source of winter sports products, he began preparing for the ski season early after partnering with SHEIN, showcasing a range of rapidly-developed products from different thicknesses and materials of ski gloves, to various designs and lengths of sports socks, and ski masks, confidently compelling his product development to receive excellent market feedback and rapid orders.

It is reported that on the overseas social media platform TikTok, a special topic created specifically for "skiing short videos" has surged in popularity with nearly billions of views. The consuming vigor unleashed by the "skiing craze" not only stimulates the development of the tourism industry but also shows a continuous upward trend for a series of sports equipment such as gloves, long socks, goggles, and protective gear related to ice and snow sports.

On SHEIN's foreign sales website, popular skiing apparel, equipment, and protective gear, thick snow caps, non-slip snow shoes, and self-heating gloves all come from "China-made" products. This has set a flame of business performance for domestic cross-border sellers in the winter. The SHEIN website also provides consumers with various recommendations for matching combinations, such as matching ski suits with ski gloves, suggesting in a scenario-based manner, to help them make smarter consumer choices and provide cross-border sellers with rich display windows and business opportunities.

By seizing opportunities during the ice and snow season, seller Yu Qiang has set grander goals, indicating plans to further expand his sports product lines, allowing his business to break through seasonal restrictions and realizing the ability to produce explosive products throughout the year. Combining with the empowering guidance from the SHEIN team, he is observing the next season's spring/summer trends and fashion elements, developing a richer range of professional sports products. "Our products consistently receive five-star ratings in the U.S. market, and we hope to focus on winter for skiing accessories and outdoor cycling accessories for the spring/summer, enriching more products and categories, striving to achieve growth of more than five-fold in sales in 2024."

Direct access to overseas consumers: SHEIN platform aids outdoor sellers to expand their brands internationally

Apart from skiwear, Wu Jinsong, who noticed that SHEIN's sales in more than 150 countries are good and continuously observed the performance of other sports categories, realized the new business potential of protective equipment. This prompted him to initiate a retail plan for exports.

Wu Jinsong took over the sports protective gear business from his predecessors. In the past, the family business met foreign trade customers through offline booths in Yiwu. They established their own protective gear factory, selling products overseas through numerous foreign trade orders.

As a second-generation foreign trade factory owner, Wu Jinsong made two important innovative decisions after taking over the factory: first, he registered his own brand, strengthening qualifications and standards. Secondly, he joined the cross-border e-commerce platform SHEIN, reaching out directly to a wider range of overseas end customers, enhancing the finesse of his products.

Wu Jinsong believes that the overseas sports consumption market is mature and has strong protection awareness, demanding high expertise in sports protective gear. "If doing only offline foreign trade orders, my understanding of the products was very limited. But through SHEIN, I can directly contact a large number of users from different countries, ensuring that my products have no blind spots in exports. The different body shapes, aesthetics, and sports habits of overseas sports enthusiasts contribute to a more comprehensive design of my product collection, making my products more competitive in the overseas retail market."

Compared to other platforms, Wu Jinsong mentioned that the cooperation with SHEIN is now a relaxing choice. Contrasting with traditional e-commerce channels requiring self-built logistics, operational investment, and customer service, SHEIN's platform-agency operation model has allowed Wu Jinsong to rapidly shelf quality products and directly sell overseas, enabling a more independent visual and conceptual presentation of his brand. Since joining a year ago, Wu Jinsong’s team has been operating at ease, resulting in monthly sales of nearly one million yuan, with employees responsible for connecting with SHEIN's operations receiving a 50% pay raise.

When asked about finding the golden points of combining the advantages of China's manufacturing with global market demands, and turning protective accessories into branded products, Wu Jinsong stated that the SHEIN platform provides a good starting point and growth space for newbies selling on the platform. Through attending the training courses offered by the platform, he gradually mastered the operational skills of cross-border e-commerce and the demand characteristics of the international market. Simultaneously, SHEIN's supply chain system and marketing strategies have provided him with great help, allowing him to enter the market rapidly and achieve excellent sales performance.

In Wu Jinsong's view, the sportswear industry still has tremendous development space globally. Taking winter sports as a stepping stone, trendy, comfortable, and professional sports products are continuously going abroad, offering diverse consumer choices for the world's consumers through more professional and fashionable sports methods. It has also been learned that "winter camping" as a new outdoor sports activity is extremely popular in regions such as Northeast China, and also booming among overseas consumers in snowy conditions. Faced with the popularity of the SHEIN platform, a camping brand seller from Fujian, Fang Fang, heard from friends making accessories that the platform excelled as a strong backend with stable traffic, and newly launched products also sold well. Prompted by this, Fang has quickly established a store on the SHEIN platform and currently achieves a monthly sales volume of 1.58 million yuan.

There are many young and stylish female users on SHEIN. Compared to users on other platforms, these consumers on SHEIN are more willing to provide comments and feedback. Fang Fang loves this interactive atmosphere, and the suggestions of overseas fans can guide sellers to better develop new models. Therefore, Fang Fang has increased the original team for the SHEIN platform from the original 7 or 8 people to 20, focusing on building his own brand for overseas markets on SHEIN.

Industry analysis believes that the overseas market's desire for high-quality outdoor sports products has not been fully met, and there is still a huge gap in product demand. The huge "fashion flow" gathered on the SHEIN platform helps cross-border sellers accurately target high-quality customer groups. Yu Qiang, Wu Jinsong, Fang Fang, and others are convinced that SHEIN's platform is aimed at the international stage and everyone has the opportunity to find their own opportunities in the cross-border e-commerce tide, to sell efficiently and go abroad with high quality.