Shein Group Ltd. has lowered retail prices in the U.S. following a temporary reduction in import duties on Chinese goods by the Trump administration. The move comes as the fast-fashion giant seeks to recapture consumer interest after recent tariff-driven price increases led to a dip in traffic and sales.
According to Bloomberg, the average price of 98 consistently monitored items on Shein’s U.S. site dropped to $5.56 on Wednesday, marking a 13% decrease from a high of $6.38 on May 7. The company also issued a price drop alert to U.S. shoppers, assuring them they would not face extra costs or tariff-related charges at checkout.
This price adjustment follows a temporary easing of U.S. trade measures, where duties on most Chinese imports were cut from 145% to 30%, and the “de minimis” tax on smaller shipments from China and Hong Kong was lowered from 120% to 54%. These changes offer a brief reprieve to cross-border platforms like Shein and Temu, which depend on low-cost shipping from China to remain competitive.
Shein’s U.S. sales reportedly began falling after the company raised prices on April 25. Data from Bloomberg Second Measure shows that sales for the week ending May 4 were 15% lower than during the same week in 2024. Temu, owned by PDD Holdings Inc., also saw a 10% drop during the same period after implementing import surcharges in late April.
Website traffic mirrored the decline in sales, with both platforms seeing over a 20% drop in average daily traffic in the 15 days following the price hikes, according to Similarweb.
Despite the temporary tariff relief, uncertainty looms. The reduced duties are only in place for 90 days, and remain significantly higher than pre-Trump levels. Meanwhile, traditional U.S. retailers appear to be benefiting from the disruption: Amazon and Walmart saw sales increase by 8.1% and 4.6% respectively in the week ending May 4.
