Relying on Shein’s global warehouse network that allows it to ship products to more than 150 countries and regions worldwide, the Chinese platform that has captured the preferences of a predominantly female audience and intrigued them with its name has evolved into a of the fastest growing apparel and footwear companies in the world.
The company with the difficult name pronounced “si-yin”, was originally born under the name “ZZKKO” in China, in 2008. Shortly afterwards, its founder, Chris Xu, using his experience as a marketing and search engine optimization consultant, created the algorithm that was to change shopping habits and influence the Greek market as well.
Despite the fact that the company initially sold only wedding dresses, it gradually expanded to women’s clothing, then to men’s, children’s, home goods and dozens of other categories.
Shein promised easy “download” of the application from the app stores, easy access, economical prices, flash sales and offers, purchases with various payment methods and shipping to the location desired by each customer along with its own live tracking of the order from the preparation until sent home.
And it seems he succeeded. The pandemic was the ideal condition for the explosive growth of online shopping, with Shein “conquering” one Greek city after another with the help of courier companies – mainly ACS Courier.
Shein: What are we doing in the Greek market?
“We are an exclusively online platform, with no physical stores,” Martin Reidy, representative of the company’s corporate communications department for Europe, the Middle East and Asia, explains to OT.
However, various attempts have been seen to associate the platform name with various stores. “They’re not really associated with Shein,” Mr. Reidy points out. “As mentioned, we do not have physical stores in Greece and we do not plan to open any.”
“Shein products are only available online through our official website and app. Any stores in Greece claiming to be Shein stores are not authorized by Shein or affiliated with us in any way and we cannot guarantee the authenticity or quality of the products they offer. We are taking appropriate measures to deal with these unauthorized shops and protect our customers in Greece”, he concludes.
“We are an online-only platform, with no physical stores,” Martin Reidy, representative of Shein’s Europe, Middle East and Asia corporate communications department, explains to OT.
The pop-up shops
“Occasionally we host temporary ‘pop-up’ stores in order to enhance the value of the brand and the shopping experience of our customers. At the moment, however, there are no immediate plans for such stores in the Greek market”, points out Martin Reidy to OT. “The temporary offline retail experience will always be made known to our customers directly from us through our social media channels,” he adds.
Remaining firm in the e-commerce model, it did not hesitate to experiment with pop-up stores in different areas of the markets where it operates. It is about the idea of pop-up retail stores -or flash retailing-, expressing a trend that wants the opening of spaces with a specific lifespan, in the context of some promotional events or events.
Shein, which has offices in Los Angeles, Sao Paulo, Dublin, Guangzhou, Paris, Washington, London and Singapore – where it moved its headquarters from China in 2022 – follows a specific business model, according to whereby it does not reveal the full pop-up program in advance. It only announces upcoming stores a few weeks before they open.
The commercial model
The platform offers products from third-party merchants and brands alongside its own branded products, in a business model it is developing in Brazil, the US, Mexico and other regions. At the same time, it also integrates third-party merchants and brands from around the world to meet the needs of its customers.
In this context, its next steps want Shein to invest in brands from local national markets. Brands and sellers from Spain are the latest addition to meet customer demands for increased product variety and improved delivery times. This is also in line with Shein’s ongoing efforts to harmonize with local communities, in line with its commitment to strengthen them and connect entrepreneurs and designers with consumers from other parts of the world.
Open to home appliances as well
To meet the diverse and evolving needs of its customers, however, Shein continues to continuously expand product categories in its target markets beyond fashion and apparel and into other categories, including home appliances and other household products.
Source OT
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