Xavier Xu, VP International at Deli Group, said Shein is putting “a lot of resources into Europe” during a panel on China’s New Global Commerce Playbook. Xu said fashion is “fast changing” and that it’s difficult for sellers to place inventory in the US. Shein’s business model is weakened there, he added.
“A lot of the mid-size sellers, small sellers are shifting focus from US to Europe,” Xu said. He shared that Temu and Shein heavily invest in Europe “by recruiting a lot of local brands, local designers and local sellers”. He said this approach helps with tariffs, while locally-sourced items are often better quality.
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“In all, 70-80% of what is sent to Europeans is locally sourced,” added Jordan Berke, Founder and CEO for digital retail advisory firm Tomorrow. “That’s a very different experience to the Shein we grew up with.”
Shein officially announced plans this week to roll out a new suite of localised services for UK sellers on the Shein Marketplace, creating a more integrated and efficient platform for brands and retailers looking to grow their businesses online.
Launched in the UK in 2024, Shein Marketplace enables brands and sellers to list their products online, allowing them to scale their businesses and reach more than 100m customers across Europe, and even more internationally, through Shein’s global platform.
Shein has now partnered with THG Fulfil to offer a direct integration, to provide sellers with world-class global logistics capabilities. The partnership allows orders to flow straight from the Shein marketplace into THG Fulfil’s advanced network, creating a frictionless, end-to-end process for sellers including a seamless returns flow, late-night cut-offs for next day delivery, and a streamlined pathway to scale.
“We’re pleased to see more than 2,500 UK sellers active on Shein Marketplace,” said Christina Fontana, senior director for brand operations EMEA at Shein. “It’s especially encouraging to see British brands growing their footprint and sales across Europe through the Shein platform.”
Xu also pointed out social media platform TikTok is also changing the global marketplace: “We think of it more like the future of e-commerce. It’s not only about the item and the price, it’s also about the content and customer’s desires. The company is only 10-years-old and is like $700 billion – that’s like a miracle.”
Content factories are also an integral part of growing the business: “The content is the most important part. We have content factories to film a lot of the short clips. And we use a lot of AI right now, 30% of the clips are filmed using AI. This continues content creation and allows us to get a lot of good traffic on the platform.”
