Introduction

Fashion Nova and Shein have their brand faces all across the internet, with positive reviews. This has generated more audience for the brands than ever. Amidst this popularity, some customers are caught between Fashion Nova vs Shein. They cannot decide the best brand that deserves a loyal customer. Since the fashion industry is a vast competition, who is winning between these two brands?

This article analyzes customers’ responses to these brands in recent years, emphasizing the sustainability of each in the market competition.

• Brief History of the Fashion Nova and Shein Brand
• Marketing Strategy for Fashion Nova and Shein Brands
• The Development of Fashion Nova vs Shein Brand
• Fashion Nova vs Shein Criticism
• Fashion Nova vs Shein Refund Policy

Brief History of the Fashion Nova vs Shein Brand

These brands’ history’s uniqueness may influence their current business method or approach.

Shein started in 2008, while its target audience was majorly English-speaking shoppers, while the brand sold mainly wedding dresses. However, Chris Xu is an expert in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) marketing. This has contributed to the brand’s visibility in the internet space.

The brand had no unique value than other Chinese e-commerce stores that were in existence. It was majorly a dropshipping business in the early years, as the brand did not start as a manufacturer. However, the story changed in 2014. The brand began a complete supply chain operation. 

Before 2014, Shein began to migrate from only wedding dresses. They supplied France, Spain, Italy, Russia, and Germany with shoes, jewel ties, and bags, in 2010. Currently, the company has up to 800 designers that make prototype styles. This enhances their signature and offers to the public. 

On the other hand, Fashion Nova has 500 sewing factories, with 75% of the products produced in Los Angeles.

Richard Saghian created the Fashion Nova company in 2006. It all started as a family attire boutique in Los Angeles. 

Fashion Nova is not a Chinese-owned brand like Shein. It is an American fashion retail store, and they have the most prominent physical retail location in Southern California. Unlike Shein, it was easier to predict the target audience or focus of Fashion Nova from the beginning, as they were selling clubwear. Although the clothes they produce today are not just for clubs, they have the same pattern and system.

Fashion Nova outshined the Shein industry with one striking thing; the launch of Halloween outfits in 2018.

Marketing Strategy for Fashion Nova vs Shein Brands

The goal is to cut across several age groups and nationalities for both fashion lines. However, you can see some trends in each brand. This may be as a result of the employing of market strategy. Due to this, it portrays some sets of people as the primary audience.

So far, the majority of Fashion Nova customers have been fashion enthusiasts. This is due to the crazy styles available at the brand, including ripped jeans and skimpy clothes. Hence, fashion bloggers also earn from the brand by representing their products. 

An excellent way to generate followers for both brands is to offer discount codes and referral packages.

The good thing is, Fashion Nova has gone beyond body-fitted cloth. The brand aims to make every woman proud of their body, regardless of size or shape. No matter who you are or your size, you can find perfection in this brand. 

Shein is more prevalent in TikTok than Instagram. The primary strategy employed by Shein is giving discount codes and coupons to TikTok teens. The large sizes like XL and 4XL have helped GenZ diversify in their styles and outfits.

The Development of Fashion Nova vs Shein Brand

Based on the development and popularity of each brand, it is possible to tell who is winning. Comparing the Fashion Nova vs Shein brand includes their growth rate.

Shein Growth

Shein is located in China but has a mass delivery to many parts of the world, with a significant customer from the U.S. After the pandemic silence was over, Shein was more popular than Amazon on the iOS App Store. This increased the revenue more than it had experienced in the previous years. Many web analytics platforms announce Shein as the lead of the e-commerce industry.

The Shein brand is gradually improving in terms of production volume. About 1000 styles are added to the retailer’s website daily. On the other hand, Fashion Nova releases the same style ratio per week. 

The Shein business model aims to produce quantity styles at an affordable price. Many shoppers on the Shein website luckily get away with outfits, shoes, and accessories for a price as low as $30. However, Shein’s low price is not enough reason for its growth, as research has shown that its supply chain has contributed more to the brand’s advantage.

Fashion Nova Growth 

Contrary to Shein, Fashion Nova is more of an Instagram brand. It is safe to say the brand has built an entire fashion company on Instagram. This proves the need for Fashion Nova vs Shein analysis. Many customers do not realise each has a different mode of operation. Fashion Nova is a body-fitted woman’s body, while some customers complain that the clothes are too tight. However, Fashion Nova and Shein both use celebrities, as the former uses endorsers like Amber Rose and Jenner.

According to Fashion Nova founder Richard Saghian, the brand aims to bring back the beauties in runways through body-fitted clothing. Since people instead lookup the internet for their runways, Saghian admitted they would restore what was long lost through Instagram. Before moving to other social media platforms, Fashion Nova generated a large audience on the company’s web page. This “body-con” company is currently making waves in the entertainment industry.

Fashion Nova vs Shein’s Growth

Undoubtedly, Shein had collaborated with many influencers and top celebrities, including Nick Jonas, Katy Perry, Lil Nas, and many others. However, reviews show a high possibility of the brand generating many sales from word-of-mouth advertisements. Past users who enjoyed quality service and products tend to tell their loved ones about it.

In 2017, the Shein advertisement model took a significant turn by showing on the U.S daytime television shows. It is no surprise that Shein could attract enough audiences from the west. Shein used the referral method on less popular influencers in the west, giving them about 10% to 20% commission.

According to SimilarWeb’s statistical source, 14% of the traffic generated by Shein in 2014 could be associated with influencers’ recommendations. This boosts not only visibility but also market sales as well.

Fashion Nova’s strategy is through the use of the internet with influencers. These influencers do not only advertise the products but also get their followers to imitate them. This law of attraction has proven to work for many businesses.

According to the Earned-Media Value Chart, Fashion Nova led Zara and other popular brands with $125 million. With the high endorsement from celebrities, Fashion Nova has been able to pull 5000 influencers from across the world. At the same time, research shows that an Instagram post from Kylie representing the brand could generate extra $50,000 sales in a few days.

Fashion Nova vs Shein Criticism

Globally, the e-commerce industry is significant, as Fashion Nova vs Shein competes with other top brands such as Amazon, Target, and AliExpress. Hence, they expect to receive conspiracy theory rumours or negative remarks on their growth journey. 

Here is some famous criticism about the Shein brand:

• Many people assume Shein is not being transparent about its source of production. However, the company has made several announcements not supporting child labour. 
• At the initial phase of Shein, it was late to adapt to the oversized body measurements, as some of their models were photoshopped. This complaint came from Reddit users.
• Some of their products, such as the inappropriate portray of the Muslim prayer mat, backfired on them.
• Customers in the west complained when Shein made jewellery with the Buddhist Swastika design on it. Although this could have been just one of the thoughtful designs from Shein, many customers related it with the Nazi Swastika symbol. 
• Another complaint about Shein is with its application and website. Many complain that some of the notifications and ads were not necessary. 

Here is some famous criticism about the Fashion Nova brand:

• In Dec 2019, the New York Times published an unfavourable work environment about Fashion Nova. However, the fast-fashion brand replied that they ensure to pay every worker their dues.
• Fashion Nova also launched a kids’ clothing line, which did not sit well for many parents. However, many social media critics tagged the clothes offensive to kids or underage.

Fashion Nova vs Shein Refund Policy

Affected customers can receive a refund of their money if they follow the following requirements.

With Fashion Nova, a refund is possible if the items you order sell out before being processed. Another cause for a refund is if the items are damaged upon delivery. This may occur as an error from the delivery team or improper packing and transportation system. Usually, the refund takes 2-5 working days. However, it may take longer due to technical or confirmation issues. That being said, it does not take more than ten working days to receive a refund.

The Shein policy states that a refund is only possible if the return does not exceed 45 days to the purchase period. However, if it is your first time returning an order with Shein, you will not have to pay a shipping fee.

Comparing Fashion Nova with Shein, the refund modes are the same. You will receive a refund through the same account or wallet you paid with. Also, both brands do not refund the shipping fee, but only the money paid to purchase the product.

Conclusion

When analyzing Fashion Nova vs Shein, you can deduce a standard feature: they both have high social media publicity. This has made them become many GenZ fashion favorites. 

On the other hand, both Fashion Nova and Shein have gotten bad reviews from customers. For Shein, some people complained about receiving a different clothing size apart from the one ordered on the internet. Some customers from Fashion Nova also complained about poor customer service and late delivery. In all, no particular brand is winning, as each owns different spaces on the internet. Still, Shein seems to have more loyal customers than Fashion Nova on a general overview. However, style is an individual opinion, as there is a need for a brand to convince you about their possibility of meeting your needs. Sometimes, the winning brand may not meet your fashion expectations.