Shein Begins Extending Resale Platform to Europe, Starting With France

Shein has begun extending its resale platform to France, the United Kingdom and Germany.

The platform will be expanded in phases. It is now available in France and will be extended next to the United Kingdom and then to Germany, the fashion and lifestyle retailer said in a Monday (June 3) press release.

This move follows the October 2022 launch of the Shein Exchange platform in the United States, where it currently has 115,000 secondhand items listed by more than 95,000 sellers, according to the release.

“With the extension of our Shein Exchange platform into Europe and the U.K., we hope to provide more of our global customer community with ways to easily participate in the circular economy and promote the environmental benefits of shopping second hand rather than buying new,” Caitrin Watson, director of sustainability at Shein, said in the release.

Shein Exchange is a peer-to-peer platform that can be accessed directly through the Shein app and allows users to buy and sell previously owned Shein products, according to the release.

To help sellers list products, the platform pre-populates a list of the customer’s previous purchases from Shein. To offer an item for sale, the customer can simply tap the “sell” button next to the listing, the release said.

Shoppers can find previously owned Shein items by using the app’s search and filter tools, per the release.

Shein reported that it has found that nearly half of the consumers it surveyed in France, the U.K., Germany and Brazil are motivated to buy secondhand clothing because they are committed to sustainability and circular fashion.

“As we extend Shein Exchange to new markets, we remain committed to gathering user feedback, and finding ways to improve this program and enhance the user experience on the platform,” Watson said in the release.

The global secondhand apparel market is expected to nearly double by 2027, driven primarily by consumers seeking value, according to online consignment and thrift store ThredUp, which spoke to PYMNTS in April 2023. This market includes both resale and traditional thrift and donation.

Having watched a host of third-party players make it big in the burgeoning “pre-loved” segment, fashion brands are working to retake resale.

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