The tax on small parcels is causing its sales to fall: the Chinese giant Shein announces investing 500 million euros in Poland to develop its European logistics platform

He wants to limit the bill. The Asian online commerce giant Shein announced this Wednesday, November 4, to invest 500 million euros in Poland in 2026 to develop its European logistics platform, open in 2022 and which will allow it to moderate the impact of European taxation on small parcels. Shein reports in a press release "a new phase of expansion of its European logistics platform located near Wroclaw, Poland", and emphasizes that "this investment aims to strengthen the company's logistics and order processing capabilities across Europe".

Processing fees of 2 euros in addition to the tax of 3 euros Since July 1, the European Union has imposed a tax of 3 euros on each category of products contained in imported packages with a value of less than 150 euros. In addition, "processing fees" of 2 euros have been added since November 1, with the same terms, with the aim of financing the strengthening of customs controls. And this device is not without consequences.

Last week, the Lecornu government indicated that the number of small parcels sent to France had fallen between June and August, according to the VAT amounts declared, seeing this as "tangible results" of the implementation of a European tax in July. Declared VAT amounts plunged by 48% between June and August for small parcels in France, according to Minister of Action and Public Accounts David Amiel. This fall must be considered both in terms of volumes and in value of small parcels to France from sites such as Shein, Temu and AliExpress, his office clarified during a press conference in Bercy.

During the same press conference, Commerce Minister Serge Papin also welcomed the drop in traffic to Shein (-42%), Temu (-36%) and AliExpress (-10%) in the month of July "and a drop in sales in value" of around -25% in the month of September. “These figures send strong messages that our action has effects,” he rejoiced.

Machine-translated from French