What is SHEIN?
SHEIN is a Chinese online fast-fashion retailer. SHEIN is famous for its affordable price of apparel. This company’s slogan is ” Make fashion affordable to any person”.
SHEIN was founded in 2008 in china by Chris Xu. Although SHEIN is based in China, they ship apparel to over 220 countries. SHEIN’s biggest consumer market is in the US.
Why does SHEIN have so many clothes?
Based on bbc.com that SHEIN has as many as 600,000 items for sale on its platform. SHEIN is not only contracted with over 200 manufacturers to produce clothes daily but also partnered with thousands of third-party suppliers to contribute to its giant apparel collection.
SHEIN is a fast fashion apparel producer, so its clothes are popular among young people. if any items are popular, they will produce more, if the item is not well-liked, they will discontinue production. SHEIN flips trends very quickly.
Where are SHEIN clothes shipped from?
SHEIN used to ship clothes from china because its main warehouse is in mainland China. If you purchase clothes on its website in old days, it might take over 10 days to ship to you. Now SHEIN has fulfillment centers all around the world. Their main fulfillment center in the US is in Los Angeles. So now you can get your items as fast as 4 days as long as they are not out of stock in the LA warehouse.
What is Aliexpress?
Aliexpress is an online retailer based in China. Aliexpress is a sub-company under the Alibaba Group. Aliexpress is a B2C online platform that connects business owners with consumers directly. Aliexpress focuses only on international customers than domestic china.
Sellers on Aliexpress
The majority of sellers on aliexpress are small business owners. They are a middleman or 3rd party for manufacturers. These small business owners purchase large quantities from manufacturers and then sell them individually to consumers.
Based on alibaba.com Popular types of sellers on AliExpress include clothing, electronics, beauty, tools, home improvement, and appliance retailers.
Aliexpress shipping
Aliexpress has its one-stop shipping network called ” Cainiao “. ” Cainiao” provides a full circle of shipping services. it includes package pick-up, combined orders, international trucks, custom clearance, and all-way delivery to final customers.
Besides its own shipping company ” Cainiao”, Aliexpress customers can choose other freight forwarders such as FedEx, UPS, DHL, EMS, etc based on the shipping destination and delivery window they choose.
Most sellers on aliexpress provide free shipping. The average shipping time is about 4 weeks to the US. Depending on which country you live in, you can receive your item in between one week and two 2 months. It is cross-border shipments, you have to count custom clearance time inside shipping time.
What is Alibaba?
Alibaba.com is a B2B online platform that focuses on business-to-business. According to alibaba.com, its platforms connect over 150,000 suppliers to over 10 million buyers from over 190 countries and regions.
If you are an owner of a business you should go to alibaba.com, because you contact directly with manufacturers. You can request a price quote or a sample product from these suppliers. You can also ask the manufacturer to make a small batch of production for your brand. of course, you need to pay a sample fee or production fee.
You probably think that you need to order a handsome quantity on Alibaba since it is a B2B platform. No, you do not need to order large quantities to be qualified as a buyer for Alibaba. There are plenty of manufacturers on Alibaba whose minimum order quantity is 10pcs or 25pcs. However, bear in mind that the minimum order quantity does pay more than a regular order.
The majority of sellers on Alibaba.com are manufacturers, and wholesalers, but there are also quite a lot of trading companies. Whether they are manufacturers or trading companies, they mainly deal with businesses only.
Is SHEIN same as Aliexpress?
SHEIN and aliexpress are not the same but they do have similarities
SHEIN and Aliexpress are both Chinese-owned e-commerce and based in China
SHEIN and Aliexpress are both online retailers and sell directly to consumers
SHEIN and Aliexpress both carry over millions of items on their platform
Difference between SHEIN and Aliexpress
Differences in company structure
Chris Xu is the founder of SHEIN. This company’s original name is SHEINSIDE. This company updated its name in 2015 to SHEIN.
Aliexpress belongs to the Alibaba group company
Difference on products
SHEIN’s main product is apparel, and the majority of its apparel is for young women. SHEIN carries roughly 600,000 items on its platform. SHEIN specializes in fast fashion, low-price, low to middle-quality clothes.
Aliexpress offers a huge collection of nearly everything.
Difference on shipping
SHEIN has fulfillment centers all around the world. SHEIN’s US fulfillment center is in Los Angeles. SHEIN’s shipping window is typically 4 days in the US.
Most sellers on Aliexpress are based in China. Aliexpress’s shipping window is usually 3-4 weeks if you order from the US.
Aliexpress also provides dropshipping services to its buyers. Many resellers buy products from aliexpress, send order instructions to them, then aliexpress would ship the product directly to final customers.
Customer Reviews on SHEIN and Aliexpress
Reviews on SHEIN
Most people review SHEIN as an affordable place to buy fashionable clothes. Do not expect high quality from SHEIN because its price is so low. It is pure luck if you receive a piece of clothes of good quality.
If you are under budget but still want to dress fashionably, then shop at SHEIN. Fashion comes and goes, you do not need to pay big money for fashion.
Good advice from long-term users of shein: read reviews carefully, make sure reviews are from real consumers, and avoid buying any clothes without reviews. Many times the clothes you get are different than the picture. The picture just does not show the real material.
Reviews on Aliexpress
Reviews on aliexpress are a mixture of good and bad. In summary, aliexpress offers wholesale prices on its items. it is a good online shop for dropshipping or resellers.
Good advice from buyers: there are thousands of sellers on aliexpress, and each one of them has a different quality, different price, and different customer service level. Read reviews thoroughly, chat with several sellers and pick the one with the best service and quality. Do not commit a big order from your first seller, get to know each other, build a relationship then increase your order amount gradually.
if you receive a damaged or wrong item, it is almost impossible to return the product to China, but you should contact them and try to get a refund.
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Resources:
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-59163278
https://seller.alibaba.com/businessblogs/px53308i-alibabacom-vs-aliexpress-what-are-the-differences