
Shein hit with complaint from EU consumer group over 'dark patterns'
Shein
over its use of "dark patterns", tactics designed to make people buy more on its app and website.
Pop-ups urging customers not to leave the app or risk losing promotions, countdown timers that create time pressure to complete a purchase, and the infinite scroll on its app are among the methods Shein uses that could be considered "aggressive commercial practices", BEUC said in a report also published on Thursday.
The BEUC also detailed Shein's use of frequent notifications, with one phone receiving 12 notifications from the app in a single day.
"For fast fashion you need to have volume, you need to have mass consumption, and these dark patterns are designed to stimulate mass consumption," Agustin Reyna, director general of BEUC, said in an interview.
"For us, to be satisfactory they need to get rid of these dark patterns, but the question is whether they will have enough incentive to do so, knowing the potential impact it can have on the volume of purchases."
In a statement, Shein said: "We are already working constructively with national consumers authorities and the EU Commission to demonstrate our commitment to complying with EU laws and regulations." It added that the BEUC had not accepted its request for a meeting.
Shein and rival online discount platform Temu have surged in popularity in Europe, partly helped by apps that encourage shoppers to engage with games and stand to win discounts and free products.
The BEUC has also previously targeted Temu in a complaint.
Shein's use of gamification, drawing shoppers to use the app regularly, has helped drive its success.
In the "Puppy Keep" game on the app, users feed a virtual dog and collect points to win free items. They can gain more points by scrolling through the app, and by ordering items, but must log into the game every day or risk losing cumulative rewards.
The BEUC noted that dark patterns are widely used by mass-market clothing retailers and called on the consumer protection network to include other retailers in its investigation.
It said 25 of its member organisations in 21 countries, including France, Germany and Spain, joined in the grievance filed with the Commission and with the European consumer protection network.
Late last month, the European Commission notified Shein of practices breaching EU consumer law and warned it would face fines if it failed to address the concerns.
The company is also under scrutiny from EU tech regulators on how it complies with EU online content rules.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
&w=3840&q=100)

Business Standard
27 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Will UK bring back tax-free shopping? What retailers demand from govt
UK retailers are renewing efforts to persuade Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves to bring back tax-free shopping for tourists, as the government prepares to set out its plan to boost the so-called visitor economy. Making purchases exempt from VAT could result in £3.65 billion ($4.9 billion) of additional spending by visitors from the European Union, the Association of International Retail said in a submission to ministers published Tuesday. That's on top of about £1.5 billion of spending by non-EU visitors the lobby group said was diverted from the UK when it scrapped tax-free shopping in 2021. The report sent to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is the latest salvo in a long tussle between retailers and the government. Then Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak used the UK's exit from the EU as a chance to end a system that let travelers reclaim the 20% VAT sales tax on their purchases. Since then, Conservative and Labour governments — with the exception of the short-lived administration of former Prime Minister Liz Truss — agreed with Sunak's assessment that the policy cost the Treasury more than it gained. Subsequent analysis by the Office for Budget Responsibility backed that view. Reeves faces a fiscal shortfall heading into this year's autumn budget, after expensive U-turns on welfare cuts and amid reduced prospects for growth. That makes any change to her stance on tax-free shopping less likely, even as she faces calls to help companies after she raised payroll taxes this year. But British retailers argue they have lost out to countries like France and Spain that offer tax-free shopping to non-EU visitors, and have repeatedly put forward the argument that the Treasury is not taking into account the wider uplift in spending in considering the impact of the policy on the public coffers. Hundreds of retailers including Mulberry Group Plc, Fortnum & Mason Plc and John Lewis signed an open letter to Reeves last year calling for the government to reinstate the policy. According to the Association of International Retail, the UK would become the only country in Europe offering VAT rebates to 450 million EU consumers. It also cited figures showing visitor spending in the UK was 92% of 2019 levels last year, compared with 106% in Spain and 110% in France.


Hans India
an hour ago
- Hans India
India expected to clock 6.6 pc growth in FY26 despite uncertain global outlook
New Delhi: India is expected to expand close to its trend growth in FY26, supported by better consumption demand on recent monetary easing, income tax reductions, good monsoon rains, and the prospect of continued lower oil prices, according to a report on Tuesday. The Standard Chartered global outlook report expects India to clock steady GDP growth of 6.6 per cent in FY26 compared to 6.5 per cent in FY25. While strong macro fundamentals provide the cushion, the bank also flags that India is not immune to tariff risk and the outcome of trade talks with the US and the EU will be key to growth prospects. The confidence on India's growth outlook comes even as the bank has lowered its 2025 global growth forecast slightly to 3.1 per cent from the 3.2 per cent earlier amid still-elevated trade policy uncertainty. Anubhuti Sahay, Head of India Economic research, expects improvement in real purchasing power in FY26. However, she also said, 'While urban demand is expected to stay supported on countercyclical measures, urban households may partially use the benefits from lower rates and tax cuts to deleverage and boost savings.' 'A combined fiscal deficit sustainably below 7 per cent of GDP is an important criterion for a rating upgrade, as highlighted by S&P when it upgraded India's sovereign rating outlook to positive in 2024. FY26 will be the first year when combined fiscal deficit will be below 7 per cent of GDP. We also see a high probability of it staying below 7 per cent on a medium-term basis,' Sahay added. Overall, globally, the report sees growing downside risks to the US economy in H2 2025, after greater resilience than expected in H1. The inflationary impact of US tariffs is likely to constrain Fed monetary easing, with scope for one more 25bps rate cut in 2025, although there is a risk of a bigger 50 bps move at the September meeting. China's trend growth is likely to slow. While the worst of the US-China trade war appears to be over, with China's dominance of rare-earths production proving to be an effective bargaining tool, China's economy remains vulnerable to higher effective tariffs. Export growth, a key source of growth since COVID-19, could slow meaningfully by the end of 2025, the report added.


Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
BP-chartered tanker leaves port of sanctioned-Nayara Energy without loading oil, sources say
Oil tanker Talara, chartered by energy major BP, has left the Vadinar port of newly-sanctioned Indian refiner Nayara Energy without loading diesel as planned, according to five industry sources and shipping data on LSEG. The vessel was supposed to load 60,000 metric tons (447,000 barrels) of ultra low sulphur diesel on July 21 with the cargo bound for Africa, LSEG data showed. Nayara, partly-owned by Russia's largest oil producer Rosneft, and BP did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The sources declined to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media. The change in loading plan suggests that European Union sanctions imposed on Nayara on Friday are disrupting refined products exports from the Russia-backed refiner, one of the two private fuel exporters in India. The vessel, Talara, did not load the cargo after the EU imposed the sanctions, one of the sources said. The EU sanctions package against Russia over its war in Ukraine was aimed at dealing further blows to Russia's oil and energy industry. BP has since released the ship, making it available for charter within India or Middle East region, two of the sources said. Nayara said in a statement on Monday it condemned the EU's "unjust and unilateral" decision to impose sanctions on the company, while India said on Friday it did not support the EU's "unilateral sanctions".