Shein to launch 1st pop-up store in SA, but there's a catch

Shein will open its first pop-up store in South Africa in August, but products cannot actually be purchased on site.

The Chinese e-commerce giant has already caused quite a stir here as it competes with local online platforms and even international player Amazon.

The South African Revenue Service (Sars) last month announced it's ready for a a tax crackdown on both Shein and fellow Chinese online retailer Temu.

Shein's pop-up will be located at our busiest mall, the Mall of Africa (Midrand, Gauteng), where shoppers won't actually be allowed to buy anything but will be able to try on items.

They can then order the products online with a discount at the store.

Motheo Khoaripe chats to MyBroadband editor Jan Vermeulen about Shein's latest marketing strategy.

Vermeulen's take is that Shein's pop-up concept is a marketing stunt.

He says he finds it strange for an online business to try and advertise itself in a single location.

"While the Mall of Africa has a lot of foot traffic, I feel like they get far more mileage out of their digital advertising strategy."

"We'll be able to gauge the success of this by seeing if they do it again, or if they expand to other locations in the country."

Jan Vermeulen, Editor - My/Broadband

Vermeulen does note that South Africa is still a bit wary when it comes to online shopping, and Shein's pop-up store could be a way to reel in the doubters.

"A recent study showed that South African e-commerce is lagging quite far behind international counterparts.. and a lot of what goes wrong is at the checkout stage where people abandon their cards, and the main reason is that they don't trust whoever they're dealing with, with their card information."

"It shows there's that gap to bridge here, so maybe Shein is trying to boost that 6% that we're behind."

Jan Vermeulen, Editor - MyBroadband

For more detail, listen to the interview audio at the top of the article