Shein says it bases its decisions on customer preferences and purchases rather than on trend forecasts, according to Shein Group’s description of its business. “We’ve reimagined fashion from a supply-driven model to a demand-driven model to make fashion accessible to all,” Sky Xu, Shein’s chief executive, is quoted as saying on that page.

Between July and December 2021, Shein added between 2,000 and 10,000 stock keeping units, or individual styles, to its app each day, according to data collected by the non-profit news site Rest of World. Rest of World also reported that research by Sheng Lu, a professor at the University of Delaware, found Shein offered more than 20 times as many new items as Zara and H&M from January to October 2021.

Temu mainly sells unbranded goods, according to a December 2023 analysis by Momentum Works, a Singapore-headquartered venture outfit. Temu manages its logistics costs in two main ways, the second part of that analysis says. It prioritises tail-end flights, on which remaining space is sold to Temu at a low price once the aircraft has already reached break-even. It also combines heavy goods, such as electronics with batteries, with lightweight goods to use a plane’s full volume and load capacity. Momentum Works also reported in December 2023 that Temu had established warehouses in Mexico, where goods are shipped from China before entering the US market, and said a warehouse strategy in Mexico “may further optimise logistics costs”.

Mexico’s tax authority, SAT, issued new tariffs on 31 December 2024 that apply a 19% duty to goods entering Mexico via courier companies from countries without an international treaty with Mexico, Reuters reported in The Straits Times. Mexico has no such treaty with China, and the report said the measures, in effect from 1 January 2025, could affect Shein and Temu.

Both platforms also used the US de minimis rule, under which low-value parcels could enter the country free of duties. In June 2023, the US House of Representatives’ Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party found that Temu and Shein were likely responsible for more than 30% of all packages shipped to the United States daily under the de minimis provision. From 2 May 2025, goods from China and Hong Kong valued at or under US$800 and sent outside the postal network became subject to all applicable duties, according to a White House fact sheet of 2 April 2025. VCA has reported on FedEx’s Singapore service expansion amid the de minimis crackdown.

Zara’s owner takes a third approach. Inditex, the Spanish group that owns Zara, says its supply chain is organised through 10 supplier clusters “with a highly significant part of procurement in areas close to our headquarters in Spain”, according to its 2024 annual report, published in March 2025. Inditex says this, together with short production series, gives it “flexibility and control over the process”.

The two retailers order at different scales. Zara typically asks manufacturers to turn around minimum orders of 2,000 items in 30 days, while Shein asks for as few as 100 products in as little as 10 days, Rest of World reported in 2021. VCA’s assessment is that Inditex has chosen control over production near its headquarters, while Shein has chosen range and smaller first orders.

SupplyChain Strategy reported on 9 April 2024 that the service plan came from a recent letter to investors from Donald Tang, Shein’s executive chairman. “Shein is moving beyond being a seller of low-price fashion to one that has many strings to its bow, including marketplaces, services for sellers and now services for designers and apparel brands,” Neil Saunders, managing director of retail consultancy GlobalData Retail, said in an interview quoted by SupplyChain Strategy. The publication wrote that Shein “seems to be moving towards a similar spoke and hub organisation that allowed Amazon to disrupt multiple industries at once”.

VCA’s view, as at 2 June 2025, is that the service offer changes the choice facing mid-sized fashion brands. A brand without its own demand data systems could buy small-batch production from Shein, but its sales signals and production decisions would then run through a competitor’s platform. Temu’s model relied on the de minimis provision, the Select Committee said in 2023, and duty-free treatment ended for covered goods from China and Hong Kong on 2 May 2025.

In VCA’s view, Shein’s offer would let a mid-sized brand swap the risk of unsold stock for dependence on a rival’s supply chain.

Correction, 23 September 2026: An earlier version of this article stated that Shein and Temu benefit from the US de minimis exemption; it ended for goods from China on 2 May 2025 and for all countries on 29 August 2025. This has been corrected.

Correction, 24 September 2026: An earlier version of this article attributed a figure of 314,877 new styles a year to Rest of World; it does not come from Rest of World. This has been corrected.

Correction, 27 September 2026: This article was revised to correct the following. A market share figure (18.4%) and a 2024 revenue forecast (US$50 billion) that could not be traced to a primary source were removed. The supply-chain-as-a-service plan is now attributed to a letter to investors from executive chairman Donald Tang; there is no “Tang Investment Group”. The claim that Zara introduces new styles faster than Shein was removed, because the article’s own source shows the reverse. An unsupported claim that Shein’s suppliers have “unlimited access” to its data was removed. Shein’s initial batch size of 100 to 200 items is now sourced to a dated Shein statement of January 2025. The de minimis threshold is goods valued at or under US$800, and its end for China and Hong Kong on 2 May 2025 is now sourced to the White House. An unsourced H&M product count, unsourced claims that Temu’s sales fell and Shein’s grew, and unsourced claims about Zara’s in-house manufacturing were removed. Temu’s logistics claims are now sourced to Momentum Works, and its Mexico warehouses are attributed to that analysis. The summary points were rewritten to state only sourced claims, and a repeated paragraph was removed.

Update, 27 September 2026: Mexico raised its import tax on low-value packages delivered by courier from countries without a trade agreement with Mexico, including China, from 19% to 33.5% from 15 August 2025, Mexico Business News, a Mexico City-based business news site, reported on 29 July 2025.

Update, 27 September 2026: The United States suspended duty-free de minimis treatment for goods from all countries from 29 August 2025, under an executive order of 30 July 2025.