Shein fined 40 million euros in France for false discounts

The ultra fast fashion retailer Shein has been fined 40 million euros. The brand was reprimanded by France's Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) for misleading commercial practices towards consumers.

The sanction follows an investigation into Infinite Style E-commerce LTD (ISEL), the company responsible for sales of Shein branded products, according to a statement from the DGCCRF. The investigation revealed the prices of several thousand products on the fr.shein.com website, demonstrating that ISEL was misleading consumers about the reality of the discounts they could benefit from.

According to the DGCCRF statement, “the regulations relating to price reduction announcements define the reference price as the lowest price charged during the 30 days preceding the start of a promotion”. Shein contravened these provisions “by not taking into account previous promotions or by sometimes increasing certain prices before applying a discount to them”.

This sanction follows action taken by the European Commission on May 27, 2025, which ordered the Chinese e-commerce site Shein to put an end to several misleading or abusive practices towards European consumers. These included false discounts, pressure to purchase, misleading information and a lack of transparency regarding certain information.

From May 27, Shein then had one month to respond to these findings. “Depending on the response, financial sanctions could be imposed,” according to the website of the Ministry of the Economy, Finance, and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty.

False environmental claims

Furthermore, the DGCCRF specifies that the company has not been able to justify the environmental claims present on its website. The organisation is particularly targeting the message by which it presented itself as a responsible company, which would limit its environmental impact by reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent.

Today, the site appears to have modified this claim. The webpage dedicated to the company's social responsibility indicates that the 25 percent reduction in its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (Scope 1, 2 and 3) will have to be achieved by 2030.

In France, Shein continues its expansion by pursuing a retail strategy based on the opening of pop-up stores. The latest one opened in Dijon at the end of June.

Shein's rise in France is worrying fashion players and several organisations aiming to reduce the impact of fast fashion on the environment. The company, whose business model is based on extremely low prices and a multiplication of references within its catalogue, has notably been the subject of a petition called StopShein. It is also, and above all, one of the main players targeted by a proposed anti-fast fashion law, adopted on June 10 by the Senate.

This article was translated to English using an AI tool.

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