* This article is a media “Modern Retail[Japan Version]This is a reprint from.
Having built a cult following online, SHEIN is now looking to further its U.S. following with pop-up stores and new third-party marketplaces.
The fast-fashion giant launched its first third-party marketplace in Brazil in April, and now has a marketplace in the U.S., confirmed in an email. That same month, it posted job listings for multiple positions in Los Angeles and California to push for business opportunities in the U.S.
So far, the platform has catered to smaller U.S. retailers like a Los Angeles-based fashion footwear brand called Cape Robbin, allowing people to see-in and buy non-clothing products. We also aim to purchase
Seein is steadily adding pop-up stores to its platform. Last year, he opened about 12 pop-up stores in the United States alone and more than 40 pop-up stores around the world.
The company generated $23 billion in revenue last year and is targeting a 40% revenue increase this year, according to The Wall Street Journal.
slow and small start
“We are still in the early stages of operating our marketplace platform globally, currently active in Brazil and the United States,” a company spokesperson said in an emailed statement. bottom.
The company says the marketplace will allow it to introduce new categories beyond the fashion, beauty and lifestyle categories it has successfully sold online. “In addition to its wide selection of fashion, beauty and lifestyle products, the Marketplace will incorporate new categories as a way to provide customers with a more convenient and seamless shopping experience,” the company wrote. He also said that there are “hundreds of sellers right now” on the U.S. platform.
Industry analysts say the launch of the marketplace has been slow and understated.
“It’s a slow start, it’s a small start. I think we’ll need some time to see what the platform will look like going forward, but I think it’s going to be a pretty tough battle to get onboarding US sellers. I think so,” said Jozas Kaziukenas, founder and CEO of Marketplace Pulse. Reports that TikTok is having similar problems with U.S. retailers show that Seein will also struggle to win over U.S. sellers, he added.
De-fast fashion
Shiin’s U.S. sales include products from Chinese electronics giant Lenovo and others. The company’s website offered Memorial Day discounts of 80% on fashion items and 70% on household items.
“Seein is now working full force to expand its reach, upgrade its brand and transform its marketplace,” said a senior retail and e-commerce analyst at Insider Intelligence. Mr. Sky Canavas, who is in charge of “Long-term, I think the company wants to be more than just a cheap, disposable fashion brand,” he added.
Kaziukenas said Seein’s marketplace is “pretty opaque” about sellers, including whether they are based in the United States. “So it’s hard to tell which of these merchants are US sellers and which are Chinese sellers. But the company has definitely added a number of sellers since launching the marketplace. We have more and more sellers to add,” he said. He cites home goods brand Costway as an example of a US company selling on See-In.
While the new marketplace is expected to provide a new source of revenue, it also makes it somewhat less appealing to consumers because “items added to the marketplace are already sold elsewhere.” , said Mr.
Slowdown in fast fashion
Canavas agrees that Seein will have to work a lot to bring in brands and sellers, but “but the company has a huge audience of young Gen Z consumers and a lot of traffic. There are.”
Still, “we see growth slowing significantly in the company’s core categories of ultra-cheap, ultra-fast fashion, and this goes hand-in-hand with slowing growth in the fast-fashion sector overall. “This is because consumers who want to do so have cut back on discretionary spending and there is more competition,” said Canavas.
For example, Teemoo, a subsidiary of China-based PDD Holdings Inc, has expanded rapidly by investing heavily in marketing and offering steep discounts. That helped Teemoo, which launched in the U.S. in September, surpassed Seein in mobile app downloads in November, according to Sensor Tower data cited by The Journal.
The purpose of pop-up stores
Seein is also moving offline to drive brand awareness. The company is opening pop-up stores in various U.S. cities to let shoppers touch and feel its products. A pop-up store was also opened in Las Vegas (May 25-28). The company said, “We will continue to be digital-first and have no plans to open permanent stores. We will continue to deliver the channel shopping experience.”
Canavas recounted his experience visiting a pop-up store in the shopping area of The Venetian Resort in Las Vegas. “The first thing that struck me was that Sea Inn is opening in a true luxury mall. It’s a very high end premium shopping center dominated by big luxury brands, premium dining and very high end hotels. ”.
“Through this pop-up store strategy, Seein will continue to drive its business and further build its brand by monetizing consumer interest in returning to its stores to discover new products in person,” said Canavas. And so far, I think they’ve had great success with their pop-up stores.” At the company’s pop-up store in Dallas last year, people lined up hours before the store officially opened, according to The New York Times. According to comments on Seainn’s Instagram post, the company offered email booking access to some VIP customers.
Ultimately, the marketplace could grow “if See-in can drive the performance of brands on the platform, show it to other brands, and be competitively priced,” he said. says.
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(Text: Vidhi Choudhary, Translation: Jess Corporation, Editing: Yoshiko Toda)
Source: BusinessInsider
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