Shein to pay 40 million euro fine in France

Chinese fast-fashion giant Shein has been fined €40 million (approximately CHF 37 million) for "deceptive commercial practices" following an investigation by the French Ministry of Economy's Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs, and Fraud Control (DGCCRF), the French Ministry of Economy announced Thursday. The fine was "proposed" with "the agreement of the Paris public prosecutor" and "following a settlement procedure," the DGCCRF said. This is a record amount for this type of offense.

Specifically, Shein is accused of increasing "certain prices before applying a discount," or of not taking into account "previous promotions" when indicating a reference price. "These practices of a profusion of crossed-out prices and permanent promotions thus give consumers the impression of getting a very good deal," explains the DGCCRF.

However, it found that "57% of the verified ads" during the investigation offered "no price reduction, 19% a reduction less significant than announced and 11% were in fact price increases." To conduct its investigation, the French fraud squad explains that it noted on the Shein website "the prices of several thousand products (sale price, crossed-out price and percentage reduction)" between October 2022 and August 2023.

In a statement to AFP, the Chinese group stated that it had "immediately implemented the necessary corrective actions, completed within two months" after being notified by the DGCCRF "in March 2024." "All the points raised" by the DGCCRF investigation "have therefore been addressed for more than a year," the company assured, specifying that "these adjustments had no impact on the final prices offered to consumers."