Shein sets up shop at Paris’ BHV: What’s on offer and what’s the idea?

Wednesday, November 5, at 1pm. The opening of the Shein boutique at BHV Marais drew a big crowd. For a number of hours, the first clients waited in a protracted queue at the foot of the Parisian division retailer to enter the Chinese model’s first everlasting bricks-and-mortar retailer. On the different facet of the avenue, dozens of demonstrators, native elected officers and union representatives voiced their disapproval at the much-maligned model setting up shop.

The protest was largely ignored by the many enthusiastic clients celebrating the occasion, which started on the sixth ground, in the space devoted to Shein, with an introductory speech adopted by a countdown marking the official opening of the doorways. Once the symbolic ribbon had been lower, Frédéric Merlin, managing director of BHV and Société des Grands Magasins (SGM), led the first clients by the retailer, presenting the completely different areas earlier than concluding the tour at the tills. Facing quite a few journalists from round the world, he mentioned he was “very pleasantly surprised to see the enthusiasm for this opening, which is attracting new customers as well as regular BHV customers.”

The occasion shortly took on the really feel of mass consumption, someplace between curiosity and a buying frenzy.

The new 1,000-square-metre house, primarily devoted to womenswear, occupies a big open space segmented into a number of zones. Shein doesn’t, nevertheless, occupy the total stage: a small a part of the sixth ground remains to be dedicated to Christmas décor. But there was actually no social gathering environment in that space on Wednesday.

There isn’t any main retail innovation in the structure. But the vary is clearly compartmentalised: casualwear, sportswear, formalwear and equipment. Around 80% of the gadgets are aimed at a feminine clientele throughout completely different profiles, the the rest forming a extra restricted menswear offer: zip-up jumpers, cargo trousers and different informal fundamentals.

Clothes are offered on easy cabinets mounted alongside the partitions, whereas in the centre extra traditional rails show the overwhelming majority of items on hangers. The general look is restrained and clearly straightforward to reconfigure, however the staging is elevated by rigorously chosen furnishings: marble, stone or glass tables add an elegant contact, complemented by tempered-steel particulars.

The areas are structured by zone, recognized by Shein sub-brands corresponding to Aralina, Motf, Dazy and Anewsta, providing a transparent learn of the vary and a extra premium visible impression. Each has a staging space with mannequins and a product presentation house. A couple of snug armchairs dotted round permit guests to take a break, an indication that the model additionally wished to boost the customer expertise.

On worth, the promise of accessibility is obvious: from a sports activities bra at €7.49 to a Dazy down jacket at €127.49, the retailer’s costliest merchandise. Yet though round 6,000 gadgets have been chosen, there isn’t any signal of the €2 or €3 items that additionally helped drive the model’s on-line success. Each in-store product carries a QR code on its label linking to the product web page on the model’s web site, the place costs are typically a lot decrease on-line.

Another of Shein’s digital guarantees that doesn’t essentially carry over into the bodily world is its offer for all physique varieties. Sizes vary from XS to XL, a extra restricted selection than on-line.

It is price noting that the retailer options few screens, opposite to what you may anticipate from an e-commerce participant. Here, Shein is asserting a bodily presence and the traditional conventions of attire retail.

Finally, the opening didn’t escape controversy: past the gatherings in entrance of the constructing and the vital police presence round the occasion, protesters entered the Shein space to brandish placards and shout slogans in opposition to the Chinese retailer.

Despite this, inside the crowds had been out in power. Bags crammed, rails emptied. Shein has made a profitable entry into the bodily world, with an idea calibrated to attraction to a broad viewers.

But what about the different flooring of the division retailer? Merlin mentioned he anticipated very low footfall on Wednesday. To attempt to generate site visitors, the division retailer promised a voucher equal to the quantity of Shein purchases made on Wednesday. Given the lacklustre site visitors on the different seven ranges, the pulling energy of Shein as a locomotive for the complete of BHV stays to be demonstrated.

With Olivier Guyot