Zalando leads fashion app ranking: traditional houses under pressure!

Zalando leads fashion app ranking: traditional houses under pressure!

Deutschland - The use of fashion apps in Germany is increasing rapidly. According to a current study by Simon-Kucher, which was published on March 25, 2025, 5 out of 6 German fashion apps are already using. The market shares are clearly distributed: Zalando leads with a user share of 41 %, followed by H&M (39 %) and Otto (37 %). In contrast, traditional houses such as P&C and Galeria are fighting with low user numbers of only 15 % and 11 %.

The trend towards mobile shops is also reflected in the user habits. 84 % of Germans use at least one fashion app, 75 % even use at least two, and 53 % use more than three apps regularly. The functions of the apps in particular play a crucial role. Personalized premiums with 37 %are the most popular function, followed by product information (32 %) and price comparisons (31 %).

user acceptance and trends

An interesting trend in use is the increase in the popularity of Shein, especially for top earners. Around 31 % of Shein users have an income between 6,001 and 7,000 euros. The new Player Temu is very popular with small earners and higher income groups.

market development in a global context

The global market for fashion e-commerce shows impressive numbers. According to Statista , this market will be estimated at over 781 billion US dollars in 2024. Asia is a forecast sales of over $ 520 billion in this sector by 2029. Around 21 percent of the global fashion retail is eliminated by e-commerce transactions, whereby most online sales are attributed to companies from Asia.

In the USA, consumers spend an average of 51 and $ 100 per month for online fashion purchases. Popular retailers include Target and Shein. The fashion industry overall has a value of several trillion US dollars, which underlines the relevance of fashion apps and online sales.

The Simon-Kucher Fashion-Sudie is published in two parts and offers a deeper insight into the use of fashion-apps in Germany, with the first publication that will soon be available on Simon-kucher.com. Part 2 of the study is planned for April 2025. The development in this area remains exciting and shows how much consumer behavior changes in the digital age.