Shein’s expansion in Latin America has led it to launch a new credit card for Mexican shoppers. … [+] Photographer: Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg
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Chinese fast-fashion giant Shein has announced that it is to launch its first branded credit card worldwide in Mexico, created through a partnership with Mexican fintech Stori.
The Shein credit card – a Mastercard – will offer points to use on the retailer’s website with every purchase and any clothing and accessories bought on Shein’s website will earn double points, the companies said in the launch statement.
The move comes at a time when throughout Latin America Shein’s popularity has exploded and it has weighed up plans to build a plant in Mexico and has already built out a distribution network in its prime South American market Brazil, where it has established a manufacturing base.
The likes of Chinese online behemoths Shein and Temu have been leveraging surging demand from a growing global middle-class emerging across Latin America, but who are often unable to afford the costs of European and North American brands.
Because of lower incomes, the discounted prices from Chinese retailers have proved a huge hit with this group of aspirational shoppers.
Shein has previously announced plans to start shipping the products its producers make in Brazil to other markets in Latin America in 2026, its Brazilian production director Fabiana Magalhaes affirmed earlier this year.
Shein Brazil Network
The firm started manufacturing apparel in Brazil earlier this year, marking its first production center outside its manufacturing sites in China. It aims to have 85% of its sales in Brazil, including sales by vendors on Shein’s marketplace, produced locally by 2026, the company said.
Brazil has become one of Shein’s five main markets worldwide and the largest in Latin America, the company said, and in April of this year, the business announced a nearly $150 million investment over the next few years in Brazil to establish a network of manufacturers.
Shein was also linked to opening up a manufacturing site in Mexico last year, although no further developments have come out. Such a move would allow it to deliver products more quickly to expanding growth markets and might also start to bypass fractious trading issues between the U.S. and China over trade sanctions.
Shein has established a manufacturing network in Brazil. (Photo by Mauricio Santana/Getty Images)
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In addition, the region has also seen a boom in small businesses that buy Shein apparel in bulk and re-sell items in physical stores and markets. Indeed, an offline wholesale market for Shein merchandise has flourished in countries like Mexico and Honduras, where the company’s surplus stock is often cheaply acquired and resold in places where e-commerce has yet to take off.
Shein Resell Not Authorized
Latin American resellers typically buy unsold or returned Shein items directly from the company’s manufacturers in China, then offer them at a massive mark-up in local street markets. Although Shein has stressed that its suppliers are not authorized to sell its products on any other platform, many of its items still end up marketed on private WeChat groups, run by manufacturers looking to contact resellers in countries such as Mexico.
In the meantime, Mexican shoppers are becoming more accustomed to buying online and using credit facilities. Mexico’s e-commerce market was the fastest growing in the world last year, according to a report from the Mexican Online Sales Association (AMVO), with just over 40% of all online purchases being apparel.
In announcing its new credit card, Shein has selected partner Stori, a fintech company offering services such as savings accounts that provide 15% interest and credit cards with near-total approval rates, and it has already attracted around three million clients in Mexico over the past four years.
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Publish date : 2024-10-25 03:03:00
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