Temu and Shein proceed march throughout Europe as gross sales rise – DW – 11/10/2025 | EUROtoday

When Chinese fast-fashion on-line retailer Shein opened its first boutique final week there have been each protests and a crowd of consumers.

The brick-and-mortar store contained in the BHV Marais division retailer in central Paris hit a nerve and never simply because it’s within the residence of high fashion. It was a love-hate response to firm seen in lots of different areas.

Ultracheap and nonetheless duty-free

Shein, which is commonly put in the identical class because the Temu on-line platform that permits producers to promote far more than simply trend on to customers, has been criticized for issues like counterfeits, aggressive advertising, poor working circumstances and unsafe merchandise. Despite that many are pleased for extra buying choices and a budget costs.

Though the 2 firms are totally different and have totally different enterprise fashions the result’s usually the identical: a flood of low cost Chinese items and the packaging to go together with it.

Besides merely being ultracheap, one other issue that performed within the firms’ favor is the European Union’s exemption on import duties for packages valued below €150 ($174).

The US had an analogous loophole for packages valued below $800 (€691) however has modified its laws resulting in a discount in shipments. The EU is within the remaining levels of passing an analogous rule to shut their very own low-value loophole, although it could not come into drive till 2028.

In the primary half of 2025, Temu had a mean of 115 million month-to-month lively customers within the EU and Shein had 145 million, in keeping with their very own numbers. For each platforms that is round 12% greater than the earlier six months.

Millions of packages from China

One of the most important issues about these Chinese e-commerce platforms is sustainability. A majority of products purchased on their platforms are despatched on to customers around the globe from manufactures in China. These individually packed items are flown in for fast supply and overwhelm customs authorities and infrequently can’t be returned.

Environmental teams are involved concerning the clothes waste attributable to low cost quick trend, the plastic and cardboard packaging trash, plus the emissions from all these flights to maneuver the products around the globe. And the numbers are certainly big.

In 2024, round 4.6 billion low-value objects have been imported into the EU, in keeping with a report printed in February by the EU government Commission. That is twice the quantity in 2023 and greater than triple the quantity in 2022.

Of these 12 million packages a day, 91% are from China. Not all of those packages are from Temu or Shein, however collectively they’ve an enormous share of the pie.

“Europe is inundated by a tsunami of small parcels coming from China, and it’s not about to stop,” Agustin Reyna, director basic of the Brussels-based European Consumer Organisation (BEUC), advised DW.

Protecting customers within the EU

Besides sustainability points, shopper safety watchdogs and the European Commission have repeatedly warned of unsafe merchandise that do not meet EU requirements.

New check outcomes printed on October 30 by Stiftung Warentest, an unbiased group primarily based in Berlin that makes a speciality of product testing, reinforce what many worry.

The assessments, which have been performed with teams from Belgium and Denmark, confirmed dramatic outcomes. Together, they appeared into necklaces, USB chargers and child toys.

Of the 162 objects bought from producers promoting via Temu and Shein, 110 have been lower than EU requirements, and round 1 / 4 have been doubtlessly harmful. Some of the objects had excessive ranges formaldehyde or heavy metals like cadmium. Some of the USB fees merely received too sizzling.

The European Consumer Organisation thinks flouting security laws results in unfair competitors since some firms promote merchandise that don’t meet European security requirements, whereas native firms should observe such guidelines.

EU authorities are usually not sitting nonetheless

In May, the EU Commission notified Shein about practices on its platform that infringe EU shopper legislation. Among the complaints are faux reductions, pressuring customers to finish purchases, deceptive details about customers’ authorized rights, misleading product labels and deceptive sustainability claims.

In July, the Commission preliminarily discovered that Temu is in breach of its obligations below the Digital Services Act by not doing sufficient to cease the sale of unlawful merchandise. Further investigations are ongoing and will result in a big effective.

EU international locations are usually not sitting nonetheless both

In October, Germany’s antitrust authority, the Cartel Office, initiated proceedings towards Temu. They wish to see if the platform is probably influencing the pricing on its German on-line market, together with setting the ultimate promoting costs.

In August, Shein was fined €1 million by Italy’s competitors authority for utilizing deceptive environmental claims.

In July, Shein was fined €40 million by France’s competitors company for deceptive reductions and environmental claims. That brings whole French fines for the corporate this yr to €191 million.

France has gone a step additional and is engaged on new laws for fast-fashion firms like Temu and Shein. If accredited, it might ban their adverts in France, drive them to report on the environmental results of their items and add a levy of as much as €10 for every garment purchased.

Big fines and extra laws might sluggish Chinese e-commerce giants however won’t cease them.

“Europe needs to get its act together and make Temu and Shein accountable,” mentioned Agustin Reyna. “We need clear responsibilities and deterrent consequences when the products they sell break our rules.”

To make this occur the EU wants bold customs reform and market surveillance. But if the EU permits packages valued below €150 to come back in duty-free till 2028, firms will proceed to make the most of the loophole and European clients will doubtless maintain buying.

Edited by: Uwe Hessler