A month after the opening of the Shein boutique, curious people are still crowding the BHV department store in Paris. However, they don’t buy much. There is less choice and less low prices. Customers don’t find what makes the brand successful.
With the suspension looming, one might almost forget that online fashion retailer Shein opened its first permanent physical store in the world at BHV on November 5th. The Paris court will announce its decision on December 19th. Within a month, 300,000 visitors went up the escalators to the sixth floor. This emerges from figures from the Société des Grands Magasins (SGM), which are available to the AFP news agency.
The SGM is the owner of the BHV and does not hide the difficulties. In the fourth week, the number of visitors fell by ten percent. Above all, the “conversion rate is below its potential”. This means that people come but don’t buy anything.
##“With our salaries…”
“Even those who buy always criticize. It’s ugly, it’s expensive, it doesn’t belong here,” notes Sabrina. Your name has been changed. She works as a saleswoman at the only cash register that was open in the BHV this week, although seven are installed.
Maeva was found among Chinese-made dresses and coats. The 22-year-old is a loyal customer of the brand and is attracted by the “attractive price”. “Unfortunately, with our salaries we cannot afford to buy elsewhere,” says the employee in the medical-social sector in Angoulême. However, she won’t buy anything here because it’s too expensive.
59-year-old Souad is an unemployed florist. She chose two sweaters for herself and two more for her husband for 99 euros. She shops on the site “all the time” because “it’s cheap” and “there’s a lot to choose from.”
The group is threatened with suspension in France. The reason for this is the discovery of the sale of sex dolls with childish appearance and category A weapons on its website. The group has temporarily removed third-party products from its online marketplace.
The company focuses on its own brands. These are manufactured by 10,000 suppliers mainly in China. The collections are constantly renewed. This puts the brand in fifth place among the best-selling labels in France in terms of volume. The average purchase price is ten euros. This emerges from the barometer from the Institut Français de la Mode (IFM), updated in November.
##Shein, Temu, AliExpress: 6 percent of sales
Ultra-fast fashion from Asian trio Shein, Temu and AliExpress now accounts for 6 percent of clothing purchases by volume in France, according to the IFM.
People buy from Shein “mainly because of the price, but not only,” explains Gildas Minvielle to AFP. He is director of economic observation at the IFM. He points to “a good fit with the zeitgeist as well as aggressive marketing on social networks with influencers”.
“And then they get inspired by trends, copy them and that contributes to their success,” he regrets.
According to the IFM, almost four out of ten French people have already shopped on ultra-fast fashion platforms. This affects “all generations and all socio-professional categories,” he explains. However, there is an overrepresentation of young women.
##Large sizes
Shein’s online success also results from the fact that the brand is “almost the only alternative for large sizes,” emphasizes Daria Marx. She is an activist against discrimination against fat people with the French collective Gras Politique.
It points to a dilemma. In her opinion, the brand is synonymous with “exploitation on all levels, be it of the people who produce or of the planet.” However, it enables “fat women who are interested in fashion to dress themselves” without ruining themselves financially.
“There’s a pressure on women to be fashionable. There’s even more pressure on fat women because they’re accused of letting themselves go. So accusing them of shopping at Shein is, in a sense, a double condemnation,” she notes.
The SGM is aware of the criticism from BHV customers. She reiterates that new deliveries will expand supply. This includes items for men’s fashion, children’s fashion and sports, as well as large sizes and low prices.
While the recipe for success is still being sought in Paris, SGM is still not announcing any opening dates for the Shein branches in Dijon, Reims, Grenoble, Angers and Limoges.
This article was created using digital tools translated.
FashionUnited uses artificial intelligence to speed up the translation of articles and improve the end result. They help us to make FashionUnited’s international reporting quickly and comprehensively accessible to a German-speaking readership. Articles translated using AI-based tools are proofread and carefully edited by our editors before they are published. If you have any questions or comments, please email [email protected]