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Sharp revenue decline for Shein, Temu and AliExpress due to EU levy. Asian online shopping platforms have seen their revenue in Germany fall by 36 percent as a direct result of the European import levy that consumers have had to pay since this summer. The German figures are an initial indication that the European measure against 'dumping' in the e-commerce market is having an effect. With the rise of Asian e-commerce platforms, the market is being flooded with dirt-cheap products. Their transport is not infrequently subsidized by Chinese government bodies. Since July of this year, consumers throughout Europe have had to pay three euros in import levy per order per product category purchased. This applies to orders up to 150 euros. The German figures show that it is possible to bring the market somewhat more into balance. Soon, on top of the three-euro tax, there will be an additional two-euro processing fee. The combined revenue of the Asian shops fell in the third quarter by 35.5 percent to 566 million euros, according to figures from the German e-commerce association Bevh. The market share of Shein, Temu and AliExpress thereby fell from 5.3 to 3.1 percent. A similar development can be expected for the Netherlands. Those figures will be announced around December 2026 when Thuiswinkel.org publishes its market monitor for the third quarter. Bevh CEO Alien Mulyk: "The rapid growth of Temu and Shein in Germany has stopped. However, local providers are not benefiting from that, because sharply rising energy prices and declining income expectations are dampening online buying behavior." Online marketplaces performed best of all sales channels in the third quarter, with a revenue increase of five percent, followed by manufacturers' direct-to-consumer providers, which grew by 4.2 percent. Multichannel providers achieved no more than 2.5 percent, while pure online shops lost 0.8 percent in revenue. The market also varies within product categories. Medicines (+15.4%), drugstore products (+14.3%) and food (+9.1%) continued to grow strongly. Fashion also performed better than the total market, with +4.9 percent for clothing and +6.4 percent for shoes. Electronics and telecommunications (-4.6%) and furniture, lamps and decoration (-5.2%), by contrast, declined, because consumers postponed purchases.

Shein overtakes Asos as UK sales rise 26 per cent to £2.58bn. Shein, the online fast-fashion retailer founded in China, increased its UK sales by 26 per cent to £2.58bn last year, overtaking its British rival Asos, according to accounts filed at Companies House. Pre-tax profits at the UK division rose 18 per cent to £45.2m, the accounts show. The company paid £11.2m in current tax, understood to be mainly corporation tax, up from £9.6m a year earlier. The number of people employed by the group in the UK, mostly in sales and marketing, rose to 113 from 91 a year before. Free newsletters The stories that matter to UK business, straight to your inbox. The figures compare with UK sales of £2.05bn in 2024, when the division reported a pre-tax profit of £38.3m. Shein said sales had been helped by a marketing partnership with the Wireless and Creamfields music festivals and a pop-up shop on Oxford Street in London. It also cited Christmas gift events in Edinburgh, Manchester, Liverpool and London. The retailer's model is based on shipping orders of low-cost clothes from Chinese factories direct to homes, with each order low enough in value to avoid import duties. The UK's "de minimis" rule allows overseas sellers to send goods valued at £135 or less direct to British shoppers without paying any customs duty. Rachel Reeves, the former chancellor, said she would remove the rule by 2028. The Treasury's response to its consultation on low value imports says the government has brought delivery forward by six months, to October 2028 at the latest. Major retail bosses have said the government should move sooner. Sainsbury's, Currys and AO World are among the names to have argued that the relief gives overseas rivals a structural advantage. The US revoked its own exemption for Chinese-made goods last year. Under that exemption, parcels worth less than $800 (£600) shipped to individuals had been spared import tax. The change has slowed Shein's expansion in the US. The EU is also phasing out its exemption on customs duties for low-value parcels. The European Commission said a temporary €3 customs duty would apply from 1 July 2026 to parcels worth up to €150 imported from outside the bloc. Shein's global parent group listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange last month, valued at just over $26bn (£19.6bn). The company had reached a valuation of $100bn in a fundraising round in April 2022, making it the third most valuable startup in the world at the time. It considered a £50bn ($66bn) float on the London Stock Exchange in 2024 before launching in Hong Kong. Last week, in its first results since the float, Shein reported a 67 per cent fall in group quarterly profits to £173m. It blamed higher oil prices and freight rates linked to the war in Iran. In July, a filing lodged before the listing showed a first-quarter loss of $99m. In that filing, Shein said the removal of the US exemption had had an adverse impact on its sales there. Shein was founded by the entrepreneur Chris Xu. It runs most of its operations from China but sells all its goods outside the country. The company moved its headquarters to Singapore at the start of 2022. It has recently begun manufacturing in other countries, including Turkey and Brazil. After forced labour concerns were raised, Shein said it had tightened its supplier policies. It said these were enforced through regular audits, with any child or forced labour violations becoming grounds for immediate termination of contract. Jamie Young. Jamie Young is Senior Reporter at Business Matters, covering SME finance, employment law and Westminster policy since 2016. He has reported on every Budget and Autumn Statement since 2018, helped make sense of the 'covid era' and the bounce-back loan scheme from launch through the fraud investigations, and broke the magazine's coverage of the 2024 late-payment reforms. He joined Business Matters straight from completing his BA in Administration from Exeter University and is NCTJ-qualified. Reach him at [email protected]

Glamify Fashion founder talks localisation, community and competing with Shein. Glamify Fashion founder Ashley Ali tells Drapers how a focus on localisation and community is helping the business weather external headwinds and fierce competition from fast-fashion rival Shein. Access to this article is for subscribers only * Unlimited use of drapersonline.com * Premium monthly magazine * Early access to interactive digital edition * Exclusive discounts to Drapers conferences * Industry-leading reports * Drapers' market-leading buying guides * Full access to the Drapers digital archive * Exclusive subscriber-only content