Sales Failure: Internal Source Speaks Out

Brand loyalists expected to find the products presented on the platform on the shelves. They found themselves neither in terms of offers nor prices.

The Société des Grands Stores, owner of BHV Marais in Paris, claims 300,000 visitors to the Shein shelves during the first month after the arrival, on November 5, of the Asian ultra-fast-fashion giant in the store. But an internal source at the Asian group clearly recognizes a failure in terms of sales, France Inter reported Monday January 12.

With much fewer promotions on the shelves than on the site, and above all much less choice, the brand’s loyalists cannot find their way around. Under these conditions, the openings of Shein spaces announced last fall in five Galeries Lafayette renamed BHV, in Dijon, Reims, Grenoble, Angers and Limoges, are constantly being postponed.

According to corroborating sources at France Inter, the Chinese platform and the owner of the BHV network are first seeking to build a viable model in Paris without guarantee of success before going further.

Last November, the main French trade federations and around a hundred brands, including Coopérative U, Promod, Monoprix, took Shein to court for “unfair competition”. The first hearing will be held on Monday before the Aix-en-Provence court.