In an early indication of the possible impact of the trade war on American shoppers, fast-fashion behemoth Shein Group Ltd. increased the pricing of its items in the US, ranging from gowns to kitchenware, in advance of impending duties on tiny packages.
According to estimates, Friday saw the majority of the price increases in the US, with markups in some categories being much larger than others.
Compared to Thursday, the average price of the top 100 beauty and wellness products rose by 51 percent, with some of the items seeing price increases of over double.
The price of a 10-piece set of kitchen towels increased by an astounding 377 percent, and the average increase for toys and home and kitchen goods was above 30 percent. The increase for women's apparel was eight percent.
The US government's decision to eliminate the "de minimis" exception for tiny packages from mainland China and Hong Kong means that e-commerce sites like Shein and Temu will have to pay a 120 percent tariff on a large number of their products.
In recent years, exporters have profited from the exemption, which permits the entry of products under $800 into the US free of customs fees and levies. Additionally, Washington will raise the per-item postal tax to $100 for anything arriving after May 2 and even more after June 1.
Trump claimed in a social media post as recently as April 21 that "there is virtually no inflation" due to declining grocery and gasoline prices. However, Shein's pricing increase is in keeping with recent attempts by Chinese internet merchants to transfer at least a portion of the increased import expenses to American customers.
Shein provided incentives to some of its Chinese suppliers to establish production capacity in Vietnam back in February in an attempt to get around Trump's tariff stance. Temu advocated for a "half-custody" system, which would allow Chinese firms to export their own goods in large quantities straight to American warehouses.
According to reports, Temu and Shein experienced a resurgence in March and the first few months of April as American consumers stocked up on everything from home appliances to beauty brushes before tariff-driven price hikes took effect. Earlier this month, both businesses declared that they will increase their US prices.
Based on reports shopping cart containing 50 items from various categories, prices for Shein in the US increased by roughly 10 percent between April 24 and 26.
Seven of the fifty goods that were sampled during that time were delisted in the United States. Shein's UK prices, on the other hand, remained mostly the same, and no products were taken off the market.
In the two days, the prices of thirty of the forty-three items that were still in the US cart increased by more than ten percent.
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Some products were already more expensive, even though more significant price changes were made on Friday. On April 22, Shein raised the pricing of dozens of the best-selling items in the Women's Clothing category. As a result, the average price of the top 100 items in the category jumped by more than four percent, from $8.68 to $9.06.