HIGHLIGHTS
* Shein is going to make a comeback to India three years after it was banned.
* The Chinese fast-fashion retailer has partnered with Reliance Retail to resume operations in India.
* Shein was banned in India in 2020 along with 58 other Chinese-linked apps.
Shein, the popular fast fashion giant is going to make a return to India soon. Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Retail has partnered with the Chinese fashion company to resume operations in India. Shein was banned along with 58 other Chinese-linked apps back in 2020 due to security reasons.
It is unclear how exactly the partnership will take place, and if Shein will operate independently.
Reliance Retail’s footprint is spread across India through offline stores and online as well, and it is being presumed that the Chinese company will use the conglomerate’s network of warehouses and stores.
This is expected to be a full-fledged comeback for Shein in India and not like the one where it started selling products through Amazon India but with very limited stock.
The Indian government approved the return of BGMI in the country which made the gamers happy. However, it’s just a three-month trial approval so the future of the game in the country is still uncertain. In other good news, we have some news for shopping lovers in India.
Financial Express is now reporting that the popular shopping platform, Shein will also be making its comeback to India soon. For those who don’t know, the popular shopping platform was banned in the country in June 2020.
Let’s know more details about Shein’s return to India in 2023.
Shein is Making a Comeback With Reliance
Before its ban, Shein was one of the most popular shopping platforms in India. It was popular among females. In the latest development, a report suggests that Shein will tie up with Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance to make its return in India.
Post the return, Shein will sell its cloth in Reliance Trends’ offline store and Ajio’s online store. Both these platforms are owned by Reliance and Ajio is popular for selling clothes at affordable prices in the country.
This new partnership will include sourcing, manufacturing, and retailing which means Shein will also source its fabrics from India for its global and local operations. As of now, Reliance has not confirmed any news regarding the development.
It is being said that the Indian government has approved the partnership between Shein and Reliance Industries.
Shein also sold its products through Amazon in India and also had its own online store in the country. The major reason for the success of the platform was providing affordable and designer clothes.
Earlier, Shein used to identify itself as a Chinese company, however, it is now based in Singapore which means it is a non-Chinese company now.
Shein grew to be a popular fast-fashion marketplace and it currently delivers to more than 150 countries. The company was valued at $100 billion after a funding round in April 2022. It reportedly posted $23 billion in sales last year.
The company is however seeing a decrease in growth given its recent fundraising which was $2 billion putting its current valuation at $66 billion, but the company is said to grow by 40 percent this year.chi.
Separately, Reliance Retail reported a 12.9% increase in its net profit to ₹2,415 crore. Besides, Reliance Retail also added 966 new stores in the March quarter, taking the total count to 18,040 and reporting 41.29%. year-on-year in the number of footfalls at its stores to 21.9 crore.
German retailer METRO AG also completed ₹2,850 crore in the sale of its Indian cash & Carry business to Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL) this month.
Faqs
1) Why Was Shein Banned in 2020?
Ans) Shein was banned in India along with 58 Chinese apps in India by MeitY owing to security reasons. However, in 2021, the company was spotted selling its clothes in India via Amazon during the Prime Days sale.
But, later it was also banned after a petition was filed in Delhi High Court stating that the Chinese company will have access to personal and sensitive data of several millions of Indian citizens.
Center told the court during the hearing that although Shein was banned in India the order did not state whether it could sell its products through third-party sellers or not. The IT Act Section 69A doesn’t cover the same. This is the same act used for banning Shein and other Chinese apps.
As of now, none of the parties have confirmed the details of the Shein relaunch in India. We shall update the story once we receive any confirmation from any party.
2) 5 things you need to know about Shein Comeback ?
Ans) As Shein prepares to comeback to India, here are five things you need to know about the popular fast-fashion brand:
* Shein will be making a comeback in India three years after it was banned by the government. The main USP of Shein was that it offered a variety of fast-fashion clothes but at affordable rates. It is a Chinese online fast-fashion retailer that was founded in October 2008 in Nanjing, China, with its headquarters in Singapore. Shein was earlier only operating as a shipping company as it would source clothes from the wholesale market in Guangzhou.
* The fast-fashion retailer has been embroiled in cases ranging from data privacy, trademark issues, and even forced labour. It was even accused of using forced labour from the Chinese ethnic minority, Uyghurs. Shein has however denied such claims and allegations against the company.
* In October 2022 when Shein suffered a data breach and details of 39 million users were stolen. Shein’s parent company Zoetop was fined $1.9 million for the data breach and how it handled it as it lied about how much user data was compromised.
* Shein has also been sued for copying designs of popular brands such as Levi’s, Dr Martens and Ralph Lauren.
* The Shein ban in India was part of the first wave of Chinese-linked apps that were banned in the country. The ban was put in place due to a disputed border issue between India and China. The Indian government cited security reasons and risks such as data collection and possible spying from Chinese forces through these apps.
3) Can Shein make a successful comeback?
Ans) Shein needs no introduction. You probably know it as the Chinese fast fashion app that was banned by India in 2020 over cross-border security concerns. But even before the ban the controversial app made quite a name for itself.
Within just a year of its Indian launch in 2017 for instance, it had garnered over 5 million downloads, a million daily active users and 10,000 orders every day with an average order value ranging between ₹1,000 and ₹1,500.
And by the time the company planned to triple its business here, the government decided to give Shein the chop along with 58 other Chinese apps.
But now, the rumour is that Shein is all set for a resurrection in India. But wait….isn’t India still uncomfortable with the idea of Chinese apps?
Well, that’s a pretty valid question. But the Chinese app itself isn’t coming back. Shein, China will license its technology and trademarks to Reliance Retail Ventures Private Limited ― Reliance’s retail arm. And the operations will be completely run by the Indian company. Yup, Reliance.
4) Can Shein be successful?
Ans) Well, between the time of Shein’s disappearance and FY22, there have been significant investments in startups and global companies that cater to Gen-z’s fashion needs. Everyone wants fashion and everyone wants it fast. So it isn’t surprising that venture capitalists struck 31 deals amounting to $212 million with fashion brands like Stumbl, Zouk and Virgio in FY22 alone.
Sure, the funding winter may have affected the number of deals in FY23. However, that doesn’t erase Gen-z’s hunger for frequent wardrobe makeovers.
But here’s the thing. These brands like Urbanic or BlissClub came in to fill the void Shein created when it left. So all of Shein’s customer base spread over these newly sprung companies in due course. This means that it could be hard to regain its past glory.
Then there are concerns about Shein’s plagiaristic practices and labour exploitation. It is no secret that the company has been a controversy magnet. In 2021, Levis filed a suit against it for stealing its jeans stitching patterns which the former had trademarked. That’s not all, brands like Mara Hoffman, Puma, Adidas, H&M and Ralph Lauren have also sued Shein for making confusingly similar apparel and competitive yet unfair pricing.
Besides, Shein has also been accused of exploiting Chinese labourers who are made to work even 75 hours a week so that the brand can produce cheap apparel. And lawmakers in the US are already prodding it to reveal its labour practices before it goes public in the US markets.
And if the audit unravels any nasty deets, then well, it may not be good news for Shein’s partnership with Reliance in India.
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