Shein is a Chinese online retailer founded by Chris Xu in 2008. He started the company in Nanjing, China. The company is known for its affordable prices. When the company started to work, it used to drop shipping. Later it converted into a retail company. In the early days, Shein used to obtain wholesale clothing from the Guangzhou market, and later it started its clothing design and manufacturing clothing. In 2012, the company started its Shein clothing supply chain.

Company Overview

Here is the basic information about Shein.

Company Profile

Shein’s Journey

The name of the company was ZZKKO at the time when it was founded. Chris Xu started the company, he used to be a search engine optimization marketing specialist and entrepreneur. In the year 2011, he started Shelnside.com, which used to be a wedding dress company. The company used to sell women’s clothes as well. And most of the products that the company used to acquire were from Guangzhou’s wholesale market.

At that time, the company had no interest in the production or design. Instead, it was a drop shipping company. The company started its business in France, Spain, Russia, Germany, and Italy in 2010. Within only two years, the company also started to sell shoes, purses, cosmetics, and jewelry. And the main focus was to sell women’s clothes. And then, it started to grow as an online retail brand. The company also started social media marketing on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. It used to collaborate with bloggers.

Company Expand

The company started to expand in 2014 as it bought Romwe. It was an e-commerce retailer. By the year, 2016, the company had around 100 employees. The headquarter was in Guangzhou, China. 2015 was the year when the company changed its name from Sheinside to Shein. In 2016, Xu appointed 800 people for cloth design and prototypes for designing Shein-branded clothing. Then it started its supply chain.

In 201, the company featured its merchandise with other businesses such as Zafula and Fashion Nova. Influencers also used to show different Shein videos for advertisement. There were also pop-up shops, this is because some people do not want to buy online products. One of the major marketing tools that the company used to do is to use of TikTok.

Outside China, the USA is the biggest target market of Shein. In the US, shein’s app was the second most downloaded app. People downloaded shein’s app 251 million times.  

It shows that Shein would dominate the US market now.

Manufacturing

Shein used to bring clothes from the wholesale market and used to act as a third-party seller. The company started to manufacture its clothes in 2014. Then it made its supply chain. After that, it started to build its networks, suppliers, and partners. It helped the company to get more orders and deliver more products.

There are two main strategies that the company used to do. First of all, the company is able to predict the market well and predicts the best identification of trends. Then it does not make so many batches, rather, the company believes n making small batches.

Marketing

The report from CNN that TikTok played a considerable role when it came to showing Shein clothes to common people. This influencer marketing made this brand this much big. The influencer marketing was so good that Shein was the most downloaded app in 2021. They also crossed Amazon. The main target of the brand is the new generation.

To achieve growth, the brand focuses on implementing different marketing strategies. The brand also was a trend in 2020, and most people talked about the brand on both YouTube and TikTok, and 4th when it comes to Instagram. The USP of the company is to sell cheaper products, and this attracts teenage internet shoppers.

Shein: Things You Must Know

Here are facts about the company.

• The value of Shein increased to $30 billion from $15 billion in 2021.
• In 2020, the company made $10 billion in revenue.
• The company was the largest online fashion firm in 2020.
• In 2022, it was the largest fast fashion firm.
• The company had 28% of the United States market.
• The value of the company in 2022 was $100 billion.
• Last year, the company made a total of $24 billion.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):

Here are some interesting questions and answers that most people want to know.

Recent Growths In Shein’s business 

Like its rivals, Shein also used influencer marketing. The company targeted local influencers to promote their brand. In 2020, Shein started targeting small scale American influencers like Laura Illanes.  

Laura says she started promoting Shein in 2020. Then she was a student in South Carolina only.  

Influencers like her got multiple free dresses from Shein to promote the brand on Instagram.  

At the same time, Shein targeted the premium influencers like Katy Perry and Lil Nas. Katy Perry did a virtual concert on the Shein app, as a part of Covid-19 relief funding activities.  

Shein is based out of China. However, Shein successfully built an international brand by 2020. However, Shein only distributed products to Europe and the US. There were no production units. Around 2020-21, Shein sold its products to 200 countries in all.  

Shein had a market share of 40% at the same time in the US fast fashion market. In 2021, the sales valuation in the US market was $16 billion (about $49 per person in the US). 

Drop in valuation 

Shein’s market value was $100 billion during the financial year 2021. It was higher than the combined valuations of H&M and Zara. However, Shein’s valuation started dropping in 2023. Now it is only $66 billion.  

Physical Presence of Shein 

Shein is all about unique marketing and dynamic growth projects. At one point, Shein was only online. But the facts about shein that many won’t know is that they had a successful physical business.  

Around 2022, they launched their first brick and mortar store in Tokyo. Other less known facts about shein are that they also created the culture of popup stores.  

In Tokyo, people would visit the physical stores. There they scanned a QR code. The scanning gives them access to the Shein website. Customers can place an order online. This mix of online and offline strategy was liked by most people.  

Then, Shein opened pop up stores in specific global locations.  

A Shein spokesperson said that customers really enjoyed the in-person interaction with the brand in the Shein stores.  

Controversies Around the Brand  

Shein’s business model is based on a cost leadership strategy. The product prices of Shein are exceptionally low. At the same time, Shein gave many free samples to innumerable influencers. They created a series of “Shein haul” videos.  

However, controversies developed around the brand when people got used to the concept of sustainable fashion. Many sources reported that there is no policy of clear financial disclosure of Shein.  

The company used cheap fabric and chemicals. Thus, Shein caused high environmental impact. At the same time, Shein was accused of conducting forced labor.  

Many sources reported facts about shein. However, there were fewer proper sources to validate anything. Due to these suspicious activities, the brand lost traction in the US market.  

Final Words

So, I hope now to get the answer to where is Shein located. Basically, the company started its business in China, and the headquarter is in Singapore. The company also operates in various different counties. There is also a question that people want to know, which is how long does Shein take to ship? So, typically it depends on the products. But you can expect delivery within 10 days. So, just grab Shein dresses.

I hope you will find this article interesting. If so, then please share and give your feedback.

Thank You.

Read More:

• What Is Brand Marketing? Explained With Examples
• What Is Mobile Marketing? Explained With Examples
• What Is Affiliate Marketing? Explained With Examples