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Online fast-fashion retailer Shein is trying to woo brands like toothpaste conglomerate Colgate-Palmolive and toymaker Hasbro as it tries to sell more household names on its platform, Reuters reports.
Known for low-priced own-brand clothing and accessories, Shein is moving into other categories and has so far given brands and retailers access to its platform in nine European countries, after doing so in the United States, Brazil and Mexico last year.
The strategy, part of Shein’s plan to build credibility and better compete with Amazon, will allow the company to expand and develop new ways to sell goods ahead of a planned stock market listing later this year.
Shein showcased its marketplace services last month at an event in Madrid alongside Colgate-Palmolive, Hasbro, Orangina maker Suntory Beverage & Food and Spanish cosmetics brand Bella Aurora.
“Everyone associates Shein with fashion, but we do all verticals,” Christina Fontana, senior director of brand operations for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Shein, told delegates at a conference in Paris on April 17.
Seeing shoppers open Shein and seek out other brands provided the impetus, Fontana said.
“Our consumers want brands. If that’s what they’re looking for, then that’s what we’re going to give them.”
Fontana, who previously worked for AliBaba, is one of several marketplace experts Shein has poached from the Chinese e-commerce giant and other companies.
That recruitment has contributed to rapid expansion. Shein averaged 108 million monthly active users across European Union member states in the six months to January 31.
But the company’s growth has brought new complications, including new EU rules that require the company to monitor its platform for illegal or harmful products.
In Europe, Shein’s marketplace is so far available in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.
Whether the new marketplaces succeed and allow Shein to compete with Amazon and AliExpress will depend on which brands the company can attract, experts say.
“If Shein wants to compete as a reliable and reputable marketplace platform, it really needs the support of well-known Western brands,” said Xiaofeng Wang, e-commerce analyst at Forrester in Singapore.
SUPERCHARGE SALE
In a Zoom webinar aimed at potential sellers in the United States on Thursday, Shein’s head of seller marketing Claire Lin presented an opportunity for brands to reach millions of shoppers and “supercharge” sales, according to Reuters.
“Our shopping experience is very sticky, it’s very gamified,” she said. “It’s fun to shop on our site, so what we’re seeing is that the minimum shopping time is about eight minutes, well above the industry average.”
Shein shoppers include Generation Z and Millennials, and are predominantly female – with an approximately 80-20 split between women and men, Lin said.
Home, electronics and beauty and health are currently the best-performing categories, she said, and the only category Shein does not offer is food and beverage.
Gross merchandise value (total value of products sold) in the home category tripled by 2023, while electronics grew 2.5 times and beauty & health grew 2.1 times, according to a slide shown during the webinar.
Selling directly through a marketplace can provide a significant sales boost for brands. But before doing this, manufacturers typically look for assurance that the market is a good fit for the audience they want to reach, and that they will have control over pricing and promotions.
Shein’s platforms have attracted many third-party retailers.
Products from beauty and skincare brands such as Caudalie, CeraVe, La Roche-Posay, Shiseido, The Ordinary, Rimmel and Weleda are currently sold on the Shein platform in the US, UK, Brazil and Mexico through third-party retailers.
Jayn Sterland, UK and Ireland country manager at Weleda, said the Swiss cosmetics brand was not considering selling directly on Shein.
When assessing a market, reputation, perception and environmental impact are among the most important factors the brand looks at, Sterland added, pointing to sustainability initiatives Weleda is working on with Amazon, where it sells directly.
Colgate-Palmolive did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Hasbro said the company attended the Madrid event “to talk generally about the pros and cons of marketplaces.”
A Suntory spokesperson said: “We do not sell any of our drinks on Shein’s marketplace and have no plans to do so. This was simply an opportunity to share best practice.”