Shein boutiques will open in five regional BHV stores on Wednesday, four months after the Chinese ultra-fast fashion giant’s first Paris outlet sparked an outcry.
BHV stores in Angers, Dijon, Grenoble, Limoges and Reims will from Wednesday host a Shein presence, the online retailer and BHV owner Société des Grands Magasins (SGM) said in a joint statement on Tuesday.
SGM's decision to open Shein's first physical shop in its Paris flagship BHV Marais store in November led to protests, while retailers and politicians blamed the Chinese firm's rock-bottom prices for unfair competition and environmental harm.
SGM had initially planned to open the spaces in December but postponed the rollout after a media storm over listings for childlike sex dolls and Category A weapons on the section of the Shein site dedicated to third-party sellers.
The rollout of the new Shein spaces, ranging from around 500 to 1,000 square metres, will take place “progressively”, Shein and SGM said in their press release.
“We are going to change our operating model,” SGM co-founder Frédéric Merlin told Le Figaro on Friday, adding that BHV would receive “a sales commission” and that if the experiment “doesn't work within a year, we will stop”.
Despite 5,000 daily visitors to Shein boutique at the upmarket Paris BHV store – the first outlet worldwide – Merlin acknowledged before the French Senate in January that their experiment had not delivered results.
During the hearing, BHV and Shein presented the Chinese portal as a potential saviour of French city centres, where the retail vacancy rate now averages 11 percent.
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Attracting young, connected clientele
According to Shein France spokesperson Quentin Ruffat, customers have had the mistaken impression prices were higher than online. He told AFP he was considering promotional operations in the regions and promised a “wider selection” – including plus sizes and children’s fashion.
Around 95 per cent of Shein’s French platform users live outside Paris, Lyon and Marseille, he said, claiming “25 million unique users” and the brand's "popular success”.
SGM operated several regional stores in France under the Galeries Lafayette banner. Opposed to the arrival of Shein in places bearing its name, the Galeries Lafayette group has terminated its contract with SGM for seven regional stores, rebranded BHV.
Some 100 brands – including Guerlain, Dior and Sandro – have left the Paris department store in protest at the SGM-Shein partnership or delayed payments.
However, Ruffat insists the partnership is aimed at having "a positive impact" on other brands and attracting “a young” and “connected” clientele.
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Appeal to support French and European brands
Limoges city hall said it could not “prohibit the establishment of a business, except in very strictly defined cases”. Mayor Emile Roger Lombertie said he was therefore appealing for consumers to act responsibly "to support French and European clothing brands, which have been in serious difficulty for several years”.
Founded in China in 2012 and now based in Singapore, Shein has become a focal point in debates over regulating online commerce.
Last week, the European Union opened an investigation into the platform over the case of "childlike" sex dolls.
After failing to obtain a total ban on Shein's website, France is seeking to block its online marketplace, reserved for third-party sellers. A court ruling is due on 19 March.
(with newswires)
