Shein expands offline presence, launches first Forever 21 "store-in-store"

It is learned that in August this year, Shein announced that it had acquired a stake in Forever 21's parent company and started online and offline cooperation with Forever 21. Less than two months later, on October 20, Shein's pop-up store in the Forever 21 offline store located in the Ontario Mills shopping mall in the United States officially opened. The event will last for four days.

It is reported that before the official opening at 10 am on October 20, dozens of customers lined up outside the Forever21 store, ranging from fashionable young people to mothers pushing strollers, and even government employees who took a special leave to visit Shein's offline store. This shows how popular Shein is in the US market.

It is reported that in the 50,000-square-foot Forever21 store, the Shein pop-up store is separated by a black curtain with a Shein neon sign hanging above it. The store covers an area of ​​8,000 square feet and has special areas for women's clothing, men's clothing, children's clothing and beauty products, and is equipped with dedicated staff and cash registers.

This is part of the collaboration between Shein and Forever21 that was reached in August.

In August, Shein acquired about a third of Forever 21's parent company, Sparc Group, a joint venture between shopping mall operator Simon Property Group (which runs Ontario Mills) and Authentic Brands Group, whose other brands include Brooks Brothers, Lucky Brand and Eddie Bauer.

Shein and Forever21 are both well-known brands in the fast fashion field, and their audiences have a certain degree of overlap.

The difference is that Shein's advantage is mainly online, with huge mobile traffic and a large loyal customer base, most of which are young people. Forever21's advantage is offline. It has more than 400 stores in the United States and announced the addition of 14 stores in 2022. However, the company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2019 and is currently working to turn losses into profits.

In addition, Shein's product prices are lower than Forever 21. For both parties, the cooperation obviously has more advantages than disadvantages. Forever 21 can use Shein's online market to accumulate customers and seize market share, while Shein can use Forever 21 and its huge offline store scale to further increase brand awareness and promote online sales growth.

According to reports, many consumers believe that Shein's clothing styles are more casual and basic, but the only drawback is that it is difficult to judge the quality of its materials and fabrics. The role of the pop-up store is to provide customers with a trial experience, enhance customer trust, and bring more traffic to Forever21 stores.

Nowadays, more and more brands are starting to develop offline channels and seize market share by providing omni-channel shopping experiences.

For example, FWRD, the luxury division of popular e-tailer Revolve, opened its first pop-up store in Los Angeles this summer. Princess Polly, an Australian brand that gained popularity through TikTok, opened its first U.S. store at Westfield Century City last month.

Shein's U.S. president George Chiao also said in a statement that it will open more pop-up stores across the country.

Although Shein is currently facing multiple accusations in the United States and disputes over copyright design, labor issues and environmental protection, it has not reduced American consumers' enthusiasm for Shein. It is reported that more than 1,000 customers visited the pop-up store opening on October 20.

Editor✎ Ashley/

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