SHEIN is steadily expanding: semi-trusteeship is considered a long-term strategy, supporting more than 30 sub-categories

SHEIN's "semi-trusted" focus in the second half of the year has been disclosed

After the cross-border e-commerce platform SHEIN officially announced the launch of the "semi-hostage" model last month, after a rapid trial run, its semi-hostage business will subsequently focus more on and exert its efforts on more than 30 sub-categories, providing sellers in these categories with greater support for new product incubation and traffic support.

It is reported that the supported categories include garden supplies, storage, beauty care, games and audio-visual, and consumer electronics, which are currently in short supply for SHEIN and are also emerging tracks with higher growth rates. Through the semi-custodial business, SHEIN is expected to expand its product categories and SKUs.

Previously, 2023 was called the first year of "full custody" cross-border transactions, and now the "semi-custody" cross-border model is in great demand. SHEIN's entry is not early, but it still attracts much attention. According to previous media reports, before the official opening of SHEIN's semi-custody model, more than 20,000 sellers had lined up to "try it out", and the number of recent entries has actually approached 20,000.

SHEIN attaches great importance to the semi-custodial business and is conducting detailed assessments and steadily increasing investments, viewing semi-custodial services as a long-term strategy.

More than 30 opportunity tracks

SHEIN fully opened its platformization path in 2023, recruiting a large number of brand sellers. The reporter saw from the SHEIN website that many well-known domestic brands including TCL, Baseus, Keep, Xiaomi, etc. have settled in the SHEIN platform.

"Semi-trust" is also a key move for SHEIN to expand its product categories. The leaked list of SHEIN's semi-trust "excellence training" includes more than 30 key support categories, including men's and women's shoes and boots, travel bags, fitness equipment, camping and cycling, festival parties, furniture and lighting, storage and storage, beauty care, garden supplies, small kitchen appliances, games and audio-visual consumer electronics, etc.

A senior practitioner who has been engaged in the cross-border logistics industry for many years told the 21st Century Business Herald reporter after evaluation that most of these semi-managed support categories that have been "highlighted" by SHEIN belong to emerging tracks, and rising stars usually mean it is easy to achieve high growth rates.

Take camping and cycling as an example. Especially since 2022, camping has become popular all over the world. The increasing specialization and scale of camping activities have also brought about an increase in average consumer spending year by year. Large products such as camping tents, camping tables and chairs have a huge market demand, but the richness of supply is still insufficient.

Another example is entertainment consumer electronics. The global electronic game market has expanded, and gaming and audio-visual products with cool appearance and rich functions have been shining on e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, SHEIN, and Shopee.

An e-sports headset brand that opened a store under SHEIN's semi-hosted model told reporters that the average monthly sales of headphones have exceeded 100,000 since the company started expanding overseas. "Orders started coming in on the first day the product was put on the shelves at SHEIN, and sales are currently climbing rapidly. We have already increased our overseas inventory to prepare for the big promotion carnival in the second half of the year."

It is reported that SHEIN's semi-hosting model was officially launched in early May 2024. Under the semi-hosting model, SHEIN sellers can select products independently, but they need to stock locally overseas and have the ability to carry out local fulfillment and delivery; and the SHEIN platform will assist sellers in operations and match key categories, key products and new products with corresponding exclusive on-site activity resources and exclusive traffic support.

June and July are still the beachhead period for sellers. SHEIN attaches great importance to the semi-custodial business, is conducting detailed evaluation and steadily increasing investment, and regards semi-custodial business as a long-term strategy.

Currently, SHEIN's semi-hosted model has been opened to the US site, and the opening of sites in other countries is being put on the agenda. Compared with other platforms, there is no performance threshold requirement for sellers to enter SHEIN's semi-hosted model, and there is no need to pay any additional fees to open a store, that is, the current policy is still "0 monthly rent" and "0 commission".

An industry insider analyzed that after the disclosure of more than 30 key supported categories, cross-border expansion based on the platform's prediction of overseas market demand and the direction guided by the platform will make it more certain for sellers to land in high-quality tracks and increase order volume in a short period of time.

Semi-hosted new engine

Although the full-hosting model has previously caused a wave of enthusiasm in the cross-border e-commerce field and is regarded as a new revolution, the emergence of the semi-hosting model seems to indicate that the market has a continued demand for more flexible and personalized services.

Before SHEIN, AliExpress and Temu have also launched semi-hosted models. In AliExpress's semi-hosted model, the platform is fully responsible for warehousing and fulfillment and delivery services, and sellers retain autonomy over product pricing and operations; Temu's semi-hosted model requires merchants to manage overseas warehouse products and fulfill shipments on their own, and the pricing power is still in the hands of the platform. These two models reflect the characteristics and capabilities of their respective platforms, aiming to achieve more efficient fulfillment services at a lower cost.

SHEIN's semi-hosted service is generally closer to Temu's, and is mainly aimed at sellers who have goods in overseas local markets. However, SHEIN has adopted a more flexible strategy in price setting, allowing "negotiated pricing." In addition to attracting sellers with overseas inventory, this strategy will also attract some multi-channel sellers and brand sellers.

Guolian Securities Research Report pointed out that under the previous "full trusteeship" model, merchants mostly shipped goods from China and used air transport platforms, and the goods were mainly small and medium-sized items. However, the high cost of air transport for large items limited the platform's product category expansion. The "semi-trusteeship" model is expected to expand the platform's products from small and medium-sized items to large items by expanding the overseas warehouses with stock, overseas spot goods, and sellers who can fulfill their contracts.

For merchants, the ability to prepare goods overseas is also an increasingly important capability. In the interview, there is no shortage of feedback from managers of leading cross-border e-commerce brand companies that the long-term value of the semi-trusteeship model is still "underestimated": in a market environment with volatile international policies, semi-trusteeship helps to improve the stability of operations.

Especially in recent years, the number of small cross-border parcels from China has increased dramatically, and the "small exemption" policies of various countries have gradually tightened, and the thresholds and barriers for tax exemptions for low-priced goods have been further raised. Under this policy background, sellers with overseas fulfillment capabilities are least affected by changes in the "small exemption" rules, and can also expand sales channels for overseas inventory and optimize fulfillment timeliness and service quality.

Invisibly, this is also improving the competitiveness of sellers. In the view of industry insiders, as the international consumer group paying attention to Chinese manufacturing grows day by day, sellers no longer need to compete with each other in the previous e-commerce model, which will intensify internal competition.

Some sellers who have previously chosen the "agent operation" model to go overseas also said that they would consider developing semi-hosting in the future, which will help iterate their cross-border business capabilities and take a step closer to the gold standard of "more, faster, better, and cheaper" in overseas localized operations.

The cross-border e-commerce industry has been competing fiercely in recent years, and finally ushered in the mid-term competition in the accelerated development of "semi-hosting" - whether it is the strong support of cross-border e-commerce platforms such as SHEIN, the increasingly mature management capabilities of cross-border sellers, or the accelerated construction and improvement of the cross-border e-commerce industry ecosystem, all point to the increasing attractiveness of the vast global market. In the next stage, it is imperative for domestic sellers to go overseas in a more professional manner.

SHEIN

Semi-hosting