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Shein’s European sales were already falling before the new parcel charge arrived. Today’s issue follows the pressure on low-price cross-border retail, then looks at how Amazon and eBay are selling merchants new ways to steer discovery.
News
1️⃣ Shein feels the European parcel squeeze
2️⃣ Amazon puts ads inside shopping chats
3️⃣ eBay widens custom Store ads
Insights
4️⃣ Temu climbs uneven Eastern European markets
5️⃣ Shein still relies on Western sales
6️⃣ Gen Z loyalty hides a reactivation gap
LET’S ENTER THE MAZE!
1️⃣ News
The Maze: Shein's European sales fell 13.9% in Q2 and adjusted profit slid 67% as it raised prices and cut ads ahead of the EU's July small-parcel fee.
European revenue fell to $3.77 billion, while group revenue rose only 0.9% in the quarterly results.
The €3 charge applies per distinct product category in qualifying small imports, and Shein raised prices before it started.
Fulfilment costs rose 18.1%; more European inventory is a stated plan, with no proven margin recovery yet.
Why it matters: Q2 ended before the fee began, so it cannot explain the decline alone. Watch whether higher prices hold demand and local stock restores margin.
2️⃣ News
The Maze: Amazon's Branded Conversations can carry shoppers from a sponsored prompt into AI-guided product questions, while Ads Agent unifies campaign buying.
A coffee-maker demo moved from a sponsored “Help me decide” prompt into brand-styled follow-up questions.
Brands can supply product facts and use cases, but cannot select which positive reviews the assistant shows.
The separate Ads Agent rollout adds conversational planning and optimization across ad formats over coming months.
Why it matters: The comparison becomes paid inventory. Test whether these conversations add profitable orders, and check the claims shoppers actually see.
3️⃣ News
The Maze: eBay is widening Promoted Stores Custom to eligible Store subscribers, letting more sellers choose featured products and a themed page after the paid click.
The September rollout expands access beyond the earlier managed-seller pool, but eligibility and Store subscription still apply.
Sellers can select up to 1,000 listings, feature up to ten in ads and choose a custom destination.
Event, creator and Live pages are options only where the seller has that destination; Live hosting access remains separate.
Why it matters: A cost-per-click ad works only if its featured products match the page buyers reach. Verify access, then measure orders after ad spend.
4️⃣ Insight
The Maze: Temu ranks in the top three across Poland, Czechia, Hungary and Slovakia in 2025, but the incumbent gaps make each country a different competitive problem.
Poland's Allegro reaches €14.4bn in goods sold, eight times Temu's €1.8bn despite its third-place finish.
Temu ranks second behind electronics retailer Alza in Czechia and Slovakia, but their rounded leads differ: €1.3bn versus €0.3bn.
Hungary puts Temu first at €1.1bn, while ECDB estimates describe sales scale rather than profit or an imminent takeover.
Why it matters: Plan country by country: a podium place proves relevance, while the gap to the leader helps set priorities for pricing, distribution and service.
5️⃣ Insight
The Maze: Shein expanded beyond its established markets, yet the United States and Europe still supplied 59.5% of 2025 revenue and a majority in Q1 2026.
US and European sales totaled $24.90 billion in 2025, exceeding rest-of-world revenue even though the US share had declined.
Europe's $14.80 billion contribution exceeded US sales of $10.10 billion, changing the composition of the remaining regional concentration.
The combined Q1 2026 share was still 54.6%, but the regional exposure does not imply identical policy treatment or profit contribution across countries.
Why it matters: More countries do not automatically mean less dependence; operators need to measure where sales remain concentrated and how much profit those markets supply.
6️⃣ Insight
The Maze: Gen Z buyers in Germany, the UK, France and Spain return less often the following year, yet come back after inactivity more often than shoppers overall.
Retention for the 2024 buyer base is 29.0% for ages 20–29 versus 31.7% overall, a 2.7-point gap.
Churn is 71.0% versus 68.3%, the complement of retention rather than independent evidence of permanent customer loss.
Reactivation in 2025 is 11.9% versus 10.0%, but its inactive-buyer base prevents combining it with retention into a net rate.
Why it matters: Separate keeping buyers active from winning them back, then test each journey against your own margins; these modelled panel rates do not prove campaign returns.
🧰 Resources
Useful stuff, handpicked by the team every day
🤖 AI prompts: 12 AI Prompts for Store Navigation, Search & Filters or 👉 All here
🔓 Get the full resource library with MarketMaze+
🗞️ Quick hits
Everything else you should know
⚖️ Platform rules and labels
Google challenged two EU orders on September 28 over AI-service access and search data, putting the Digital Markets Act remedies back before a court.
eBay began showing an EU durability-guarantee label on eligible listings from September 27 when sellers supply guarantee duration, brand and model data.
🧩 Product discovery and returns
Commerce.com introduced Feedonomics and BigCommerce enrichment on September 29 to improve product data for AI discovery; Feedonomics is available in English and the catalog tool is in early access.
Happy Returns integrated with TikTok Shop for participating merchants, offering box-free, label-free drop-off as a new return route.
Google began a global AI Mode monitoring rollout for all users after a subscriber phase, extending price-drop and restock alerts that could draw repeat discovery into Search.
🏬 Stores as destinations
Marks & Spencer and Sephora planned beauty destinations in 100 UK stores and a wider M&S.com range from next spring, adding a partner-led category draw.
John Lewis announced more specialist concessions including travel and art advice, with Audley Travel hubs planned from November rather than already open.
THAT’S IT FOR TODAY!
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