It became number one in the category within half a year and broke out of the red ocean!

People in the industry often think that cross-border clothing is a relatively saturated red ocean category with a large market. However, as the category with the most Chinese sellers, clothing still has many branches that cannot be fully monopolized by big sellers, and some sellers have successfully counterattacked by relying on this.

LovelyWholesale , a women's clothing brand that has made a fortune in silence, started as an independent website and later entered e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, TikTok, and TEMU. Its sales volume grew explosively in a short period of time, becoming the top of the category. Now it has become a big player in the women's clothing field.

The first in the category in half a year, the women's clothing boss has become a model

During the 2023 TikTok Shop Black Friday promotion, LovelyWholesale (hereinafter referred to as "LW") rushed to the top of the women's clothing category with "total sales of nearly 200,000 pieces and GMV growth of 102% month-on-month", successfully attracting the attention of insiders to this women's clothing tycoon.

You should know that LW only joined TikTok Shop at the end of May. After that, LW's performance has been growing rapidly, and it has generated a lot of sales on the platform in 2 months. In the Black Friday rush, LW ranked fifth with sales of 150,000 to 200,000 US dollars in 3 days , second only to swimwear giant Cider. In the fourth quarter of last year, LW's total GMV ranked first in the women's clothing category.

So, what is the origin of LW? In 2011, LW was established as an independent website, with North American market as its foundation, focusing on fashionable women's clothing. Currently, it mainly sells women's clothing, men's clothing, children's clothing and other products, but women's clothing accounts for the largest proportion.

Backed by the clothing industry belts in Guangzhou and Foshan, LW successfully started overseas and established its own offices and warehouses around the world. In 2014, LW became the first successful case website to log in to Facebook, with more than 4 million fans on the platform. Later, LW opened a number of independent websites, with annual GMV reaching hundreds of millions of dollars.

However, unlike other brands on the market that generally target Generation Z women, LW takes a different approach and targets Latino housewives. This group is mainly concentrated in North America, and their consumer spending far exceeds that of other ethnic groups. What they generally have in common is that they have relatively low education levels, low incomes, and like to enjoy life and take care of their families while also balancing work and work.

Under the pressure of life, they are more inclined to relieve stress and enrich their lives through platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, and buy products with relatively high cost performance. LW then positioned the product price at US$10-50, and the price of some products was as low as single digits during the promotion period.

At the same time, LW will maintain the brand tone through graphic content and bring traffic and orders to the independent website through videos, etc. through celebrity marketing + exclusive discount codes + influencer promotion. Due to its fashionable product design, strong appeal and fast opening speed, LW has attracted the attention of many influencers, and some influencers are even willing to promote its popular products, such as large-size women's clothing and jumpsuit sets.

At present, LW has accumulated more than 6 million fashion users, becoming the first choice for Latin American housewives and one of the most popular online stores in North America and South Africa. Data from the brand's independent website in the past three months shows that its total visits are 1.4 million, of which more than 70% are from the United States. Among the data sources of the independent website, direct traffic accounts for nearly 40%, and the brand effect is significant.

LW has deployed multiple popular platforms and has repeatedly created popular products

Even though the independent site has achieved remarkable results, LW did not just stay at the independent site as a channel, but pursued a multi-platform layout model, entering the most popular or even explosive emerging platforms such as Amazon, TEMU, SHEIN, and TikTok Shop.

In 2022, TEMU was launched in the US market, and LW was the first to enter. Since then, sales have been growing. The following year, its spring LW Basic series products sold more than 20,000 pieces in a single day. Currently, LW, which is loved by TEMU users, ranks third in the fashion category with more than 47,000 store reviews.

On the SHEIN channel, LW's popular matching clothing has always dominated the homepage. On the TikTok Shop channel, after it reached the top of the category at the end of 2023, with the help of influencer marketing, the product sales have been considerable. In the best-selling ranking of clothing categories, LW's set of products has always been the best-selling one .

The best-selling item "Kangaroo Pocket Drawstring Hoodie and Sweatpants" is the most popular product on TEMU and TikTok , with sales of nearly 500,000 units and more than 98% of customers giving it five-star reviews.

After further investigation, we can find that LW has its own methodology to achieve such results. LW operates more than 6 platforms, and has launched many new products at a fast speed. However, it does not blindly distribute goods and models, but mainly promotes existing seasonal hot-selling models, and mostly puts them on the shelves in sets to ensure the product sales rate while reducing the risk of the store being downgraded. After the launch of the model, it will also iterate the product according to the real-time sales data.

In addition, LW has also established a fabric library to ensure product quality and maintain its high-quality advantages. With fabric resources and hundreds of fashion buyers, LW can provide customers with fashionable and cost-effective products at the first time. In terms of service, it will also regularly analyze customer product rating feedback and improve products.

How can the cross-border women's clothing category break through the siege?

From the perspective of market size, cross-border women's clothing is still a recognized good business. Internet Retailing data shows that global fashion e-commerce sales will reach US$863 billion in 2022, accounting for 20% of global e-commerce sales. Among them , the sales of clothing categories are relatively high, nearly 2 times higher than accessories and nearly 4 times higher than shoes , and women 's clothing accounts for 50% of clothing sales.

However, the fierce competition is also imaginable. Among the active online DTC brands in the United States, women's clothing accounts for more than half of the market share. If women's clothing brands want to break out of the red ocean, they still need some "killer weapons".

According to the data of "China's Top 100 Most Influential Cross-border E-commerce Brands" ( January-February 2024), in addition to the well-known SHEIN, there are also many outstanding brands in the sub-categories that have taken a different approach to make it onto the list, which are also worth a look for sellers.

Halara is a women's clothing brand founded in Beijing in 2020. It focuses on the sports and leisure category. Its products are mostly short-sleeved shirts, sweatpants, tennis skirts, etc. It has won three rounds of financing totaling over 100 million yuan in just over a year since its establishment. The monthly visits to the independent station channel exceed one million, and the average daily orders on the TikTok channel exceed 10,000.

Urbanic is a fast fashion brand from Hangzhou, focusing on European and American street fashion clothing. Its independent website has achieved millions of US dollars in sales in just half a year. Another brand that focuses on this category is Aelfeic Eden, which uses a lot of street elements and is highly sought after by young people.

Romwe is a women's clothing brand acquired by SHEIN. The brand is full of rebellious spirit and mixed with various subculture aesthetic styles. Its products are a collection of punk, fairy, Gothic and other styles. The products are positioned in the middle and low end and are mainly sold at a discount.

In addition to the above-mentioned women's clothing brands, there are also ORORO, which focuses on heating functional clothing powered by lithium batteries, and Cider, which sells large-size women's clothing, which have long been popular overseas. Sellers can also choose the subcategories that suit them and delve deeper into them at the right time.

LovelyWholesale

Women

TikTok