(Bloomberg)-Fast-Fashion Shein giant has increased the prices of its products in the United States-from dresses to kitchen utensils-before imminent small packages, giving an early sign of the potential impact of trade war for American consumers.
Most price increases in the US occurred last Friday, with significantly higher elevations in some categories than in others, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News. The average price of the 100 main products in the category of beauty and health rose 51% compared to Thursday, with several items more than doubling in price. For home and kitchen products and toys, the average increase was over 30%, driven by a massive increase of 377% in the price of a set of 10 cooking cloths. For women’s clothing, the rise was 8%.
E-commerce platforms like Shein and Temu face a 120% rate on many of their products due to the US government’s decision to end the “minimis” exemption for small continental and Hong Kong packages. In recent years, exporters have taken advantage of this exemption, which allowed goods valued at less than $ 800 in the US without customs or customs taxes. Washington will also increase the postal fee per item to $ 100 from May 2, and even more from June 1st.
Until recently, on April 21, Trump said in a social media publication that “there is virtually no inflation” due to the drop in energy and food prices. But Shein’s price increase reflects the latest Chinese retailers to pass on at least part of extra import costs to US consumers.
In February, seeking to protect itself from Trump’s tariff policy, Shein offered incentives to some of its Chinese suppliers to establish production capacity in Vietnam. Temu, on the other hand, encouraged Chinese factories to send its products in large volumes directly to deposits in the US, adopting what it called the “half custody” structure.
Temu and Shein sales recovered in March and early April, as US consumers stocked everything – from makeup brushes to appliances – before rate -driven price increases, show Bloomberg data. Both companies announced earlier this month that they would increase their prices in the US.
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In general, Shein prices in the US rose about 10% between April 24 and 26, based on a sample shopping cart filled by Bloomberg News with 50 items of various categories. During this period, 7 of the 50 sample items were removed from the US catalog. In contrast, Shein prices in the UK remained virtually unchanged and no item has been withdrawn.
Of the 43 items that remained available in the American cart, 30 had an increase of more than 10% in two days.
Although the highest price adjustments occurred on Friday, some products had become more expensive before. The prices of tens of the main products of Shein’s women’s clothing category rose on April 22, raising the average price of the 100 main products in the category to $ 9.06, against $ 8.68 previously – an increase of over 4%.
