Quick answer: Shein is a legitimate retail platform, but buyers should still check seller, product, payment, returns, sizing, and data-privacy details before ordering. Policies and product quality can vary, so verify the current terms at checkout.
If you are in the fashion business, or there is a young generation in your family, you must have heard of Shein. A cross-border E-commerce platform focus on fashion clothing and accessories from China that is gaining the attention of young people worldwide.
Shein is a legal and compliant shopping platform independent site, you can rest assured for shopping . However, when you selecting from the site, you need to pay attention to several things to improve the chances of buying satisfactory products.
1. What is Shein?
Shein is dedicated to building cross-border fast fashion brands like Zara and Foever21, including clothing, accessories, shoes and bags, jewelry, home, beauty, home textiles, and other categories, mainly for female users aged 16 to 35 in Europe, America, the Middle East, India, and other consumer markets.
In the eyes of some people, Shein was once seen as the “Chinese version of ZARA”, with more than three times as many users searching for it on Google as ZARA. In the “BrandZ Top 50 Global Brands in China 2021” list released by Google and WPP on May 10, Shein ranked 11th, higher than Tencent, ZTE, and BYD. Shein has successfully penetrated the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and other markets, and because it specializes in online shopping, it has achieved counter-trend growth for the eighth year in a row, with over 100% revenue growth, despite the epidemic that hit many fast fashion stores last year.
2. How did Shein grow so fast?
Shin’s keywords are summarized as: fast + cheap + fashion + various choices. “Cheap and fast” are the most important advantages for its rapid development in a short period of time. The “cheap and fast” is the most important advantage of its rapid growth in a short period of time.
2.1 The ultimate value for money
Shein’s product pricing is the best value for money. The pricing has an absolute advantage compared to the industry. For example, under the skirt category of women’s clothing, Shein’s product prices s between 6-25 U.S. dollars, compared to fast fashion brands such as Zara and H&M has an absolute advantage. For a women’s top, for example, Shein’s cost is only 7 U.S. dollars, and Zara’s discount price is still 12.99 dollars, a price difference of 70%.
Shein mainly divides its products into four categories: women’s wear, plus-size women’s wear, children’s wear, and men’s wear. The price selection range given on the official website is US$2-77, US$4-75, US$2-35, and US$5-71 respectively, with most products priced at less than US$20. Daily shipments top out at over 3 million pieces.
Wide range of prices: lowest price range in the industry, the moderate price range at the top. In terms of the price range, Shein’s lowest price for each product line remains at $2-$3, which is the lowest price among the same type of company. The highest price is driven by the high-end sub-brand, which is in the middle of the industry in the $100-$200 range.
2.2 The ultimate speed of styles updating
The ultimate speed of product updates and carefully designed display images maximize the desire to buy. With a strong team of designers, buyers, and pattern makers, through the capture of fashion trends and the recombination of design elements. Shein’s official website currently has about 3,000 new styles per day and nearly 20,000 new styles per week, far ahead of the competitor in the industry.
Shein attaches great importance to the first impression left by the product display pictures to consumers, through a team of professional photographers to take pictures of the product display, to maximize the desire to buy.
In the supply chain, Shein, which has no stores and sells completely online, is basically faster than Zara in every step.
Shein has shortened the sample-to-production process to as little as seven days, which is seven days less than Zara’s fastest time. One supplier says it takes 5 days from the time it receives an order from Shein to the fabric, to the time it delivers the garment to Shein’s warehouse.
One day for fabric production, three days for cutting, turning, and finishing, and one day for secondary processes (embroidery and printing).
2.3 Superb supply chain management system
For Shein, is located in China, once a major manufacturing country is undoubtedly one of its advantages.
Panyu District, Guangzhou, is China’s most important foreign garment production base. Shein’s manufacturing center is also located here. There are hundreds of garment processing factories around Panyu that have become its upstream and downstream partners. Today, Shein has more than 300 garment suppliers and has cultivated at least 100 fabric suppliers. The most prominent slogan on Shein’s official website is “Supporting Chinese quality suppliers to develop global market.
To a large extent, it is the close and long-lasting relationship with suppliers that have made Shein a success.
2.4 Provide style-appropriate products to meet the characteristics of consumers in different regions
Shein operates in 230 countries and regions around the world, and in order to meet the needs of consumers in different markets, they provide products that match the style of consumers in different regions based on a large number of SKUs. For example, in the U.S. store, they provide products that are hotter and sexier, in the Saudi store, products tend to be conservative long dresses. In the Japanese store, products tend to be youthful campus style, and in the French store, products have more popular elements.
3. Is Shein reliable and safe to buy?
Shein is a legit company just like Alibaba, Global Source. But unlike Alibaba- the large and comprehensive sourcing platform website which offer service. Shein is a vertical, self-operated B2C website which offer products. All the products from Shein are under their own brand. You don’t need to worry about whether the platform will take your money and run, or don’t shipping products to you. It is safe to buy from.
So you can shop on this platform with complete confidence and boldness, but at the same time, you need to pay attention to check the reviews and sizes. Because on various social media, most of the bad reviews are about size, also quality. However, for a 6usd tops, we cannot expect super good quality.
4. Shein‘s return and refund policy
Shein’s return and refund policy allow consumers to purchase with confidence as well.
4.1. You may return the item within a maximum of 45 days from the date of purchase. No returns will be accepted after 45 days.
4.2. Shipping is free on the first return of any order. The shipping label provided by SHEIN must be used and then the package must be sent back and postmarked within 45 days of the date of purchase.
The return window has been extended from 45 days to 75 days for all orders placed after February 1, 2022, during the Covid-19.
And refund is normally finished in one week, if you reached out to their customer service, will be even faster.
5. What are the payment methods Shein provides?
There are three main payment tools used by Shein, each with different characteristics, which are described in detail below.
5.1. PayPal allows you to pay cash securely.
As well as pay securely by email and password. You can choose a debit or credit card as your preferred payment method, and PayPal will use it when you shop or pay for goods or services online.
If you do not set a preferred method, PayPal will pay with your balance by default. When you pay with PayPal, you will be charged directly from your card, and the PayPal platform does not charge any fees.
5.2.Tabby buy first, pay later
Shein officially cooperated with the Middle East “buy now pay later” payment provider Tabby, which will provide installment services for customers in the Middle East (such as Saudi Arabia, UAE, etc.). The partnership will make shopping at the stores of your choice easier and more convenient for customers, with a 10% discount on payments.
Shein’s choice of Tabby as a partner is not only an affirmation of its local technology and capabilities but also a further indication of SHEIN’s optimism in the new “buy now, pay later” model, which is favored by consumers.
5.3.As a payment service provider, Klarna offers a high conversion rate for merchants and can be integrated quickly, which is very popular among European consumers.
6. How fast can I get my packages from Shein?
Shein is a global marketplace with 95% of its products shipped from its central warehouse in Foshan, Guangdong Province. Shein has several overseas transit warehouses around the world, located in Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Italy, Australia, and Vietnam in Southeast Asia, etc. Shein normally takes 1-3 business days from purchase to shipping, similar to most e-commerce platforms.
Shein ships products to the U.S. in 8-12 days, Shein’s logistics model is direct domestic shipping, all by air, overseas warehouses do not ship packages, only allow returns, and returns will be entered into secondary sales. Shein’s arrival time will be at least 15 business days.
The President of SHEIN’s U.S. operations, recently said in an interview that the company plans to build three large distribution centers in the U.S., which could eventually reduce the time to ship to customers by 3-4 days.
7. How to buy from Shein safely?
If you want to buy cost-effective products on Shein, then you would be better to pay attention to the following tips.
7.1. Before you place an order, choose products with customer reviews to get a better understanding of the product.
7.2. Shein’s clothing size is usually customized according to the Asian market, corresponding to European and American consumers, there will be deviations in size, please verify the size of the product before you buy.
7.3. Please confirm the material of the products, because the price is low, many products is be made of artificial fiber fabric. If you have requirements for the material, please pay attention before placing an order.
7.4. Keep an eye out for coupons and discounts, you can use the appropriate coupons to reduce the cost of your order.
7.5. Try to choose daily basic styles with lower prices. Avoid particularly complicated and overly flashy styles, because of the effect shown by the model on the website pictures, when you get the product on hand, there may be a big difference.
8. Issues and Challenges for Shein
Relying on “Made in China” and the demographic dividend, SHEIN was once described as a disruptor in the fast fashion industry. However, this inevitably created problems as it continued to drive down costs and create profits in the shortest possible cycle time.
In addition to plagiarism and plagiarism of artistic creativity, quality is difficult to ensure, the new product launch price and the late discounted price is a big difference, and environmental protection controversy is also a problem.
China’s domestic and Europe and the United States in the apparel market have a lot of differences. Especially in Europe and the United States in the field of fashion developed earlier, the country is still in the stage of focusing on the “trend”, Europe and the United States focus on “environmental protection” and “design copyright “.
Shein clothes design is dependent on big data, grabbing keywords from the Internet to ensure the speed of style change, capture consumer attention to the trend elements and arrange the combination. So the criticism of product plagiarism will be more prominent.
At the same time Shein clothing due to the low cost, they are mostly made of polyester fabric, this fabric is not as biodegradable as natural materials. Therefore, environmental issues are also criticized by the European and American markets.
9.Conclusion
Shein as a cross-border B2C shopping independent site is legal, trustworthy, and safe to buy from. You can make purchases with confidence and boldness. But at the same time, it would be better to pay attention to some points, so that your chances of buying your favorite products will be higher.
If you have any further questions want to know about Shein or anything about fast fashion sourcing from China, please feel free to contact us.
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