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Starting today, shopping on Shein and Temu is going from dirt cheap to slightly less dirt cheap. In updates to U.S. customers last week, the rival retailers shared similar announcements that their pricing would go up beginning on April 25, citing rising operating expenses from global trade rules and tariffs. The retailers even encouraged shoppers to get one last order in before it was too late: Until April 25, prices will stay the same, so you can shop now at todays rates, Temu wrote in its announcement. Weve stocked up and stand ready to make sure your orders arrive smoothly during this time. By this morning, that shopping window had passed. Heres what we know so far about the price hikes, and how they might impact your favorite TikTok influencers next haul: Why is this happening now? This update from Shein and Temu doesnt exactly come as a surprise. Since early February, President Trumps new tariff policies made it clear that neither companys business model could survive unchanged for long. Both Shein and Temu operate by using labor in Chinese factories to manufacture ultracheap goods and ship them abroad. But unlike other companies with a similar manufacturing strategylike Gap or H&MShein and Temu cut the middleman of stocking in U.S. warehouses by shipping goods directly from China to shoppers doors. This strategy has historically allowed them to take advantage of a tax code loophole called de minimis, which allows all packages under $800 to ship into the U.S. duty-free. In early April, Trump signed an executive order thats set to end the de minimis loophole starting on May 2. That means that Shein and Temus packagespart of a total of four million low-value packages that arrive in the U.S. every daywill no longer be exempt from duties. For companies relying on Chinese-made goods, that’s an especially heavy financial burden, given that Trump also recently slapped a 145% tariff on most products made in China. As experts predicted back in February, Shein and Temu are unable to absorb the major costs associated with Trump nixing the de minimis loophole. Now, theyve been forced to forfeit some of their competitive advantage by offloading costs onto consumers. How will this affect pricing? So far, its not entirely clear what those added consumer costs will look like. Neither Shein nor Temu provided specific price hike rates or an idea of how shipping might be affected, and its not immediately evident whether markups are the same across the board or variable based on items. Pricing on Shein and Temu is difficult to navigate at the best of times, given that both sites rely on a nightmarish UX of constant promotions, markdowns, and discount codes to obscure the actual cost of individual items and make them appear even cheaper than they already are. To get some sense of how costs have increased, Fast Company took a look through TikToks that track Shein orders from earlier this week (when customers were flocking to place their last orders) and compared them to prices on the sites today. On Tuesday, creator Chiara Aceto made a video showing followers what to add to your Shein cart before you place that order on April 25th. In the TikTok, she recommends a $21.59 yellow two-piece set, a $17.86 pair of heels, and an $8.79 sparkly tank top, among other items. Those pieces are now $44.71, $22.90, and $17.69, respectively, with both the set and the tank top nearly doubling in price. Other pieces, like a relatively pricey ($63.80) knockoff Miu Miu handbag only went up by about $1, while still others, like a Stanley cup dupe, have gone down slightly in price. Aceto followed up with another video on Wednesday sharing her favorite bags on the site. Most of the bags are hovering around the same prices today, while a few have shot up considerably, like one Prada dupe that was $36.85 and is now $56.20. Overall, nearly all of the items mentioned by Aceto in the two TikToks are at least slightly more expensive today than they were earlier in the weekthough, given that Sheins prices are known to fluctuate on a regular basis, its difficult to tell how much of the change can be attributed to tariff price hikes, and how much is just par for the course. Nvertheless, customers appear to be noticing a difference today. In a video posted on Wednesday, creator @lifeoqhi0js, who is a Shein ambassador, also warned followers to get their orders in before April 25. Several commenters under the video reported seeing prices go up this morning, including one user who wrote that their cart had increased by $60 overnight, and another who asked, why did a $3 shirt go up to $11? Shein and Temus futures are currently looking relatively bleak, given that their business models revolve almost entirely around offering the lowest possible prices compared to competitors. To be clear, both retailers prices are still unbelievably cheap. But for consumers, the difference between a $3 T-shirt and an $11 T-shirt might be enough to abandon a $700 Shein haul in favor of investing in fewer pieces that will last a bit longer.
Category:
E-Commerce
The Trump administration is loosening rules to help U.S. automakers like Elon Musks Tesla develop self-driving cars so they can take on Chinese rivals. U.S. companies developing self-driving cars will be allowed exemptions from certain federal safety rules for testing purposes, the Transportation Department said Thursday. The department also said it will streamline crash reporting requirements involving self-driving software that Musk has criticized as onerous and will move toward a single set of national rules for the technology to replace a patchwork of state regulations. Were in a race with China to out-innovate, and the stakes couldnt be higher, said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in a statement. Our new framework will slash red tape and move us closer to a single national standard. The new exemption procedures will allow U.S. automakers to apply to skip certain safety rules for self-driving vehicles if they are used only for research, demonstrations and other noncommercial purposes. The exemptions were in place previously for foreign, imported vehicles whose home country rules may be different than those in the U.S. The decision comes a day after Musk confirmed on a conference call with Tesla investors that the electric vehicle maker will begin a rollout of self-driving Tesla taxis in Austin in June. Its not clear how the exemptions from National Traffic Safety Administration rules will affect Tesla specifically. The company has pinned its future on complete automation of its cars, but it is facing stiff competition now from rivals, especially China automaker BYD. The crash reporting rule being changed has drawn criticism from Musk as too burdensome and unfair. Tesla has reported many of the total crashes under the rule in part because it is the biggest seller of partial self-driving vehicles in the U.S. Traffic safety watchdogs had feared that the Trump administration would eliminate the reporting rule. The transportation statement Thursday said reporting will be loosened to remove unnecessary and duplicative requirements but that the obligation to report crashes will remain. Bernard Condon, AP business writer
Category:
E-Commerce
Wall Street’s big three-day rally is running out of steam, and U.S. stocks are drifting in mixed trading Friday as they near the end of another roller-coaster week. The S&P 500 was 0.1% lower in midday trading, as nearly three out of every four stocks fell within the index. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 237 points, or 0.6%, as of 11:30 a.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was 0.3% higher thanks to gains for a handful of influential Big Tech stocks. Intel weighed on the market after the chip company said its seeing elevated uncertainty across the industry and gave a forecast for upcoming revenue and profit that fell short of analysts expectations. Its stock fell 6.8% even though its results for the beginning of the year topped expectations. Eastman Chemical fell 5.9% after it gave a forecast for profit this spring that fell short of analysts expectations. CEO Mark Costa said that the macroeconomic uncertainty that defined the last several years has only increased and that future demand for its products is unclear given the magnitude and scope of tariffs. Skechers U.S.A., the shoe and apparel company, pulled its financial forecasts for the year due to macroeconomic uncertainty stemming from global trade policies even though it just reported a record quarter of revenue at $2.41 billion. Its stock fell 4.3%. Theyre the latest companies to say the uncertainty created by President Donald Trumps trade war is making it difficult to give financial forecasts for the upcoming year. Stocks had rallied earlier in the week on signals that Trump may be softening his approach on tariffs and his criticism of the Federal Reserve, which had earlier shaken markets. The hope is that if Trump rolls back some of his stiff tariffs, he could avert a recession that many investors see as otherwise likely because of his trade war. But Trumps on-again-off-again tariffs may nevertheless be pushing households and businesses to alter their spending and freeze plans for long-term investment because of how quickly conditions can change, sometimes seemingly by the hour. Business owners scrambling to figure out their supply chains and exposure to tariffs is more than just a distraction, according to Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management. It could be an existential threat, especially for smaller businesses that dont have the scale or resources to have the same supply chain flexibility as larger firms. Helping to keep Wall Streets losses in check was Alphabet, which rose 2.2%. Googles parent company reported late Thursday that its profit soared 50% in the first quarter, more than analysts expected. Alphabet is one of the biggest companies on Wall Street in terms of size, and that gives its stock’s movements extra influence on the S&P 500 and other indexes. Another market heavyweight, Nvidia, also helped push the S&P 500 index upward after the chip company rose 2.2% In stock markets abroad, indexes rose modestly across much of Europe following more mixed movements in Asia. Tokyos Nikkei 225 jumped 1.9%, but stocks in Shanghai slipped 0.1%. In the bond market, Treasury yields eased some more, and the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.28% from 4.32% late Thursday. Its been generally falling since approaching 4.50% earlier this month in a surprising rise that had suggested investors worldwide may be losing faith in the U.S. bond markets reputation as a safe place to park cash. Yields have dropped as several reports on the U.S. economy have come in weaker than expected, raising expectations that the Federal Reserve may cut interest rates later this year to support growth. A report on Friday morning said sentiment among U.S. consumers sank in April, though not by as much as economists expected. The survey from the University of Michigan said its measure of expectations for coming conditions has dropped 32% since January for the steepest three-month percentage decline seen since the 1990 recession. The value of the U.S. dollar meanwhile strengthened against the euro and other rival currencies. It’s been recovering some of its sharp, unexpected losses from earlier this month that rattled investors. Stan Choe, AP business writer AP Writers Jiang Junzhe and Matt Ott contributed.
Category:
E-Commerce
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