Shein store has a two-hour queue, but it’s less exciting than the app

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20-minute visits per group, each comprising between 30 and 40 people, who each have the right to take four pieces to the fitting room. This was the mathematical formula found by the Chinese fashion retailer Shein (read xi-in) to control the flow of customers willing to visit the brand’s pop-up store in the Vila Olímpia mall, in the south zone of São Paulo.

Lasting just five days, between November 12th and 16th, the store became a point of pilgrimage for part of the 8 million followers that the brand has on Instagram and 2 million on TikTok. A queue of no less than 7,000 people was formed at the opening of the store, on Saturday, which generated turmoil in the mall.

Most had to be dispersed and Shein had to quickly come up with 1,500 passwords for the day.

“There are reports of people who arrived at 3 am, and some even camped out, with a tent, in line,” he told the Sheet Felipe Feistler, managing director of Shein in Brazil. “Of course, anyone who has been waiting so long can be frustrated, at 9 am, in having to give up space for a preferential queue, as required by law”, says the 33-year-old economist, who left Chinese rival Shopee in May, where he took care of business development, to take charge of Shein in Brazil.

Since then, it has hired 100 people for the logistics, marketing and commercial areas, which is currently gathered in a temporary office on Avenida Paulista, in the central region of São Paulo. Feistler is looking for its own headquarters for the company, which also has a distribution center in Guarulhos, in Greater São Paulo.

Sold only online, Shein aroused curiosity with its store, while Brazilians are looking for low prices amid an inflation of 18.48% for clothing in the country in the last 12 months, according to the IPCA. At the 265 m² point of sale, all the brand’s products were priced between R$ 14.99 and R$ 166.95.

THE Sheet visited this Wednesday, the last day of the pop-up store, and noticed the kilometric queue of consumers that crossed the ground floor of the Vila Olímpia shopping center – capable of causing envy in other large fast fashion chains (fast fashion), such as Renner, Riachuelo and Amaro, who were not even remotely able to attract the same audience. But those who entered felt a certain frustration.

“I thought the store left something to be desired”, says Rita Souza, 28 years old. “There isn’t much variety, it’s super small and doesn’t have the sizes we want,” says the saleswoman, who spent two hours in line. “I prefer to make the purchase on the site, which has much more affordable prices than other chains like Renner and C&A.”

Lawyer Tamara Aragão, 46, also complained about the variety. “I came more out of curiosity, to see the products”, she says, who also spent two hours in line. “I’ve already bought a lot through the site. Shein’s price is much more attractive compared to the big chains, but the quality is not better.”

Financial assistant Andrea Ane, 50, ran at lunch time to pick out some pieces. “I’ve never bought anything at Shein, I work nearby and I decided to use my lunch time to get to know the store. I spent an hour and a half in line, but there isn’t much, there are no plus size numbers”, she says. “I see that they are really a Chinese store, with a lower standard of finishing than Renner and C&A,” she says. “But it’s worth the price: here I can find a blouse for R$70. At Renner I wouldn’t pay less than R$180.”

Everything at China’s Shein –which was born in 2008 as a website selling wedding dresses, but has seen its popularity skyrocket during the pandemic by offering a catalog of clothes at low prices– is based on experimentation. The São Paulo pop-up store was the first to have sales in Brazil. In March, the company had opened a temporary store in Rio, which operated only as a show room, without selling products. In ten days, the point in Rio received 5,000 visitors.

“We must open new pop-up stores with sales in Brazil”, says Feistler. “Our culture is one of testing, seeing what works. We are flexible”, says the executive, recalling that in the United States, for example, the company has already opened many pop-ups. Now, in Brazil, the company is dedicated to selecting local suppliers to make costs even more accessible.

“We are in the process of developing suppliers”, he says. “In 2022, we start with local operation. 2023 will be transformational.”

Documentary points to work analogous to slavery

The company has no factory. It is present in around 140 countries and has 10,000 employees, including own and third parties. The company’s differential, according to Feistler, is the “on-demand production technology”. “We do tests with 100 to 200 pieces in the application. Once the demand is confirmed, we scale production. Everything is very fast, in real time”, he says.

The retailer estimates that this business model avoids a 20% loss in the production chain. “That way we can offer prices that are more affordable than the market average”, says the general director. “Instead of producing 10,000 products only to find out later if there will be sales or not, we produce from 100 to 200 and confirm the demand.”

Shein was the focus of a British documentary, released last month, “Untold: inside the Shein Machine”, which denounced working days of up to 18 hours a day for low wages. Feistler defends the retailer’s modus operandi.

“We work with many suppliers from China, mainly. They have to follow ILO rules [Organização Internacional do Trabalho]🇧🇷 We do audits. If any supplier does not pass the audits, it is investigated and we stop working with it.”

The executive also claims that the company is dedicated to delivering sustainable parts. “We have a collection, the Evolut Shein, with products that use between 50% and 60% recycled polyester. But it is still not the majority of our mix.”

One of Shein’s great differentials, according to him, is the diversity of sizes –from XS to plus size– which would show “democratic” fashion. “Our activity on social media is also very strong, we work with ‘sheingals’, consumers who become poster girls and influencers who publicize the brand, in exchange for products and discounts.”

Brand was valued at $100 billion this year

In the opinion of Maya Mattiazzo, post-graduate professor of fashion and luxury at ESPM (Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing), Shein is, above all, the use of artificial intelligence – much more than the creation of fashion.

According to her, a robot reads the trends in fashion (trends) within the search engine and takes this report to the product developers, who make the selection of what interests them. “The robot can detect 20 trends at the same time – like boho, pin-up and romantic, for example. Worldwide, Shein launches 6,000 products a day based on these trends that have been identified.”

With this, says the expert, the customer can see the fashion trend in the app even before it becomes popular on TikTok.

“In addition, the brand works with the idea of ​​community,” he says. “Those who buy in the app evaluate the product and earn credits for future purchases. If your review has video and photos, it’s worth more than just a written review. The more likes, the more credit you earn.”

It is not by chance that the brand’s market value has already surpassed US$ 100 billion, says Maya, referring to the valuation that the company received during a fundraising round with investors at the beginning of the year. “That’s so much more than Zara and H&M combined.”

In the 2022 Best Global Brands ranking, by the consultancy Interbrands, with the 100 most valuable brands in the world, Zara appeared in 47th place, with a value of US$ 15 billion, while H&M held the 56th place, with US$ 13 billion.

For retail consultant Alberto Serrentino, a partner at Varese Retail, the Shein phenomenon is global, not just Brazilian. “They have an unparalleled ability to make fashion at a very fast pace, something that Zara was the great reference, but they surpassed it in this regard.”

Digital media is the big driving force at Shein, which doesn’t have stores like Zara, says Serrentino. “Their algorithm is very powerful in being able to detect demands and trends from what people post on social media. They are the mark of the TikTok era”, he says.

With a very fragmented and agile supply chain in China, Shein manages to generate a quantity of products dozens of times higher than Zara. “They have a very well-oiled machine, a very well rounded technology, which nobody can replicate”, says the consultant.

“Last year, Shein was the most downloaded app in the United States, more than Amazon, and here in Brazil it was the most downloaded fashion app in the country.”

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