The Chinese fashion e-commerce Shein has entered Europe and the United States like a whirlwind just as clothing companies sharpen their online strategy after the pandemic. In North America it has surpassed Amazon in sales through an app for a few months, according to Bloomberg, and in Spain its penetration is on the rise. It is the irruption in the online sale of the wildest fast fashion, with demolition prices, which is produced and shipped at full speed, industry analysts agree. And very cheap. So much so, that there are not a few clients – yes, there are mostly young women – who recognize or bother to return the clothes they don't like when they arrive and try them on. “For nine euros of the last dress I bought, it is not worth it; I will give it away or try to resell it on Vinted”, says Laia Costa, a young university student from Barcelona. And if not, “to the garbage”.
The ultra low cost seemed like an obsolete model. Large groups like Inditex, H
While waiting for these new regulations to come into force, the e-commerce founded by the enigmatic Chinese businessman Chris Xu continues to grow. In Spain it went from being used by 1.1% of online fashion buyers in 2019 to 3.4% in 2020 and 6.8% in 2021, indicates the latest Modaes report with Kantar. It is already above the German Zalando, with a penetration of 6.5% in Spain last year. Amazon is at 12.2%. The three operators together have a 38.7% share of online fashion business in the country, although there is a substantial difference between them: while Amazon and Zalando act as distribution platforms, Shein is also a manufacturer of its own clothing. "From April 2021 to April 2022, its sales have grown by 96% in Spain, while Zalando has grown by 28%, although the latter made great progress the previous year," explains Rosa López, fashion expert at Kantar Worlpanel. Its communication and marketing strategy is as aggressive as its business model, with an intense television advertising plan, as Wallapop did in its day, and jumped into retail in the form of pop-up stores –ephemeral stores–. One will soon open in Madrid. "E-commerce makes these experiments in physical commerce to strengthen the emotional connection with the buyer, something that is more complicated in online sales," emphasizes Néstor Hap, partner and associate director of fashion and luxury at Boston Consulting Group.
The consolidated brands, born in physical commerce, are also sharpening their online strategy so that these new competitors do not take away their market share. In the case of the fashion giant Inditex, it has been developing its own business model for some time, with the aim of eliminating the barriers between the physical and the virtual and the total integration of the two channels. The online represented 25.5% of income last year, and they aspire to reach 30%. The second textile group in Spain, Mango, has stabilized its digital sales share at around 40%, one of the highest levels in the sector, and has integrated all its channels into a single ecosystem. And it is that, although online shopping has stabilized, physical stores still have room to grow, highlights Rosa López, from Kantar. Being in both worlds, physical and digital, has become imperative.
