Stores bearing Shein’s name spring up in three Greek cities
Consumers in Athens, as well as Patra and Agrinio, are left aghast by the emergence of brick-and-mortar shops supposedly by popular Chinese fast-fashion online platform Shein. However the parent company reportedly knows nothing about them and considers taking measures, while the emergence of the news has apparently made those stores’ operators rather nervous.
Earlier this year, at the western town of Agrinio a physical store bearing the name “Shein” started operating, followed this summer by the announcement of a store in Greece’s third city, Patra. Then a few days ago two signs in the central Athens district of Pagrati announced the arrival of a Shein store in the capital, too, inviting CVs from those wishing to work in it.
However to date there has been no registering of a company associated with Shein at the General Commercial Register (GEMI).
The upcoming opening of a store in Athens bearing the Chinese company’s name attracted the interest of the Greek media in the capital, leading to the revelation that Shein is not related to such ventures in Greece and is not planning to open any stores in this country.
Suspicions were raised by the very fact that Shein simply does not operate through shop sales – it is a web-only platform. Having a physical chain would run counter to the founding idea of online platforms such as Shein, whereby there are no go-betweens or representatives, and sales are only based on demand and not on supply. Nowhere in Europe has Shein opened permanent stores – instead it has only operated temporary “pop-up” stores that serve the purpose of on-the-spot promotion for a specific period of time, so that consumers can see and try the products and order online.
These stores even using a logo for Shein that a watchful eye can discern is not the original one of the famous Chinese platform.
The irony is that not only does the email given for the hiring of staff not bear the Chinese giant’s domain name (shein.com), but it also has a Gmail address. It is reminded that Gmail has been blocked in China for years.
All this led to Greek media probing the story, with a Shein representative refuting to OT.gr any connection with the stores that use the company’s name: “We are an exclusively online platform,” stated Martin Reidy, EMEA corporate communication officer.
He added that any brick-and-mortar stores are not related to Shein at all: “They are not associated with Shein. We have no physical stores in Greece and are not planning on opening any,” said Reidy.
The Shein representative added that “Shein’s products are only available online, through the official website and app,” before clarifying that “any stores in Greece claiming to be Shein stores, are neither authorized by Shein, nor are associated with us in any way and we cannot guarantee the quality of the products they offer or that they are genuine.”
Crucially, Reidy also warned that “we are taking the necessary measures to tackle these unauthorized shops and to protect our customers in Greece.”
The original store, at Agrinio, opened this year before Easter and according to media in that city it belongs to a company registered at Kato Achagia, a town next to Patra in the Peloponnese. It made sure it advertised itself through a video on TikTok, the very platform that boosted Shein’s popularity especially during the lockdowns.
The unexpected publicity that the opening of those stores got has apparently made some businesspeople involved quite worried, and Kathimerini understands they expressed their anxiety about it to other local media. This is understandable given Shein’s intention to “tackle” any shops that may be unauthorized.
However there are many questions arising from this situation: Who would benefit and who would lose from a possible unauthorized use of Shein’s name, as the Chinese company suspects?
Would consumers be cheated by getting below-standard products? Would those stores earn money by charging more for the products already available online, but perhaps with the use of cash?
This will be very interesting to monitor indeed, with local traders’ associations also following closely, given the possibility of anyone riding the wave of the fast-fashion platforms’ popularity without authorization.
