Singapore-based Shein has “no plans” to establish a UK warehouse, despite reports in August 2024 that it was looking at sites in the Midlands ‘golden logistics triangle’.
The fashion marketplace, which has also lowered its valuation to $50bn dollars ahead of a planned London IPO, has proven controversial in the global retail sector. Last week, UK retailers urged the government to look at recent tax policy changes implemented in the United States, which could stop Shein benefiting from tax loopholes.
It follows US President Donald Trump implemented changes to stop low-value products being shipped tax-free, under a “de minimis” exemption. Analysts predicted the move could hurt Shein’s profitability and push up product prices in the US, its biggest market.
Shein has grown fast through what it terms a “new kind of fashion business model” that provides customers in more than 150 countries with the products they want to buy, on demand. However, it has been reported that Shein has utilised tax exemption in the UK, EU and US to ship low-value packages, raising concerns that domestic retailers are being undercut, and that governments are losing potential tax revenue.
Shein had been aiming to go public in London in the first half of this year, assuming it secured approvals from regulators in the UK as well as in China, Reuters reported last month.
Now the marketplace has halted its search for a distribution centre in the UK. It had been reportedly seeking a large ecommerce ready site, with requirements ranging from 300,000 to 400,000 square feet. Reports had suggested that the fast fashion brand did not want to construct a purpose-built warehouse, but was willing to consider locations as big as 600,000 square feet.
Currently, the ecommerce platform works with 3PL Super Smart Service, which manages the brand’s UK orders from a warehouse in Cannock.
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