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From being the fastest-growing fashion hub in the UK to unending popularity among Gen Z shoppers, Shein UK never disappoints in serving trending designs at low prices.
Since its entrance into the British division in September 2021, this Chinese brand has undercut homegrown and European rivals.
Burgeoning Market Share of Shein UK
With a significant splash in the UK market, Shein has surpassed the market share of its online fast fashion rivals Asos and Boohoo.
This fast fashion retailer has always retained the secrecy of its financials. However, gradually, things are coming into the limelight. According to GlobalData’s recent revelation, Shein UK has gathered a pre-tax revenue of £12.2m for the 16-month time duration.
Moreover, in 2022, this fast fashion giant ranked 14th largest apparel retailer in the UK. At that time, it acquired a market share of 1.7%. In the same year, Shein’s worth stood at £82 billion, more than the collective worth of H&M and Zara.
In this spirit of potential growth, GlobalData speculates that this market share will rise to 2.2% by 2023. Hence, there’s a high likelihood that Shein UK will be in the top 10 for the first time. Meanwhile, Shein has become the most frequently Googled fashion retailer by defeating Zara.
Also, Shein is planning to deeply engrave its roots in British soil. To pursue this plan, this fashion hub is in talks with Frasers Group for the acquisition of womenswear etailer Missguided. According to this deal’s terms and conditions, Shein UK can retain this Manchester-based brand’s intellectual property except its head office.
If it happens, it will bring good fortune for the Shein UK. GlobalData apparel analyst Louise Deglise-Favre said, “The brand still has high consumer awareness in the UK, which Shein could leverage to its advantage, especially if it incorporates the brand into its burgeoning marketplace or starts selling its own products under the Missguided name.”
How Shein Has Built a Sizeable Business in the UK
Since its advent in 2012 in China, Shein has always placed its customers at the core of their business model. This practice helps them in making the beauty of fashion more accessible. Hence, in a short span, Shein has collected a diversified team of 10,000 employees worldwide and sells its products to 150+ countries.
A dramatic rise to dominance didn’t come easily for Shein UK. For that, it had to carry out thorough consumer research, market trends analysis, and, undoubtedly, ‘Shein haul’ to social media platforms. So far, this Chinese brand has 26 million Facebook and 24 million Instagram followers.
Moreover, this ultra-fast fashion brand uses powerful AI tools to predict consumer interest shifts. This way, through a web search and social media behaviour, Shein UK tends to trace the latest fashion trends in a particular region. By considering this, the brand carries out a small production run and only produces 700-1000 articles a day. Later, these products are sent out through an extensive supply chain.
Thus, by analysing customers’ interests, Shein rolled out only popular styles for a wider-scale production. Hence, it saves the company time in producing less desirable items, selling out only popular pieces to the consumers.
Another reason that Shein carved an international success story is its exemption from heavy taxes. Although its manufacturing units exist in China, it never sells those products there. As a result, Chinese VAT and consumer taxes are not applicable to Shein.
While producing 30,000 items a day and more than 10 million a year in the UK alone, this fashion brand never uses a third medium for its distribution. By carrying out a direct-to-consumer practice, there are no import duties on Shein’s products.
Above all, this fashion retailer is pushing hard to dominate the UK marketplace, and somehow it’s succeeding in this. But if Shein wishes to acquire any UK asset, like high-profile Missguided, it should get ready to face an increase in scrutiny over its supply chain practices.
