Shein enters book sales via new partnership
A popular low-cost shopping platform best-known for fast fashion is launching its first-ever book category.
Shein is collaborating with Alibris, an online marketplace for independent sellers of used and new books and rare and collectible titles, to open an online Alibris storefront on its U.S. platform. The Alibris storefront on Shein now offers a curated assortment of more than 100,000 book titles across a variety of popular genres, including romance, fantasy, mystery, non-fiction, and young adult.
The Alibris storefront also offers affordable textbooks for students. Shein says it will continue to grow its selection of Alibris titles in the months ahead.
"The average Shein customer reads one to three books a month—this isn't a trend, it's a lifestyle," said George Chang, GM and head of Shein Marketplace U.S. "We're excited to support our customers' love of reading and learning by teaming up with Alibris to offer a wide variety of books to our shoppers for the very first time."
Shein operates globally but was founded in China and is based in Singapore, with many of its products shipping from sellers and warehouses located on the Chinese mainland. The company has been impacted by trade tensions between China and the U.S. sparked by tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump in April 2025,.
[READ MORE: Study: U.S. shoppers pull back from Temu, Shein; shift spending to Old Navy, others]
In addition, in August 2025 Trump globally ended the availability of the de minimis exemption. This special exemption eliminated duties and taxes on imported shipments with an aggregate value of less than $800 and also allowed them to enter the U.S. while revealing less information about the contents than other imported shipments.
Shein, as well as some other low-priced e-commerce platforms with a large amount of products imported from China such as Temu, had heavily relied on the de minimis exemption to help keep the prices they offer U.S. customers down.
Other recent moves Shein has made to diversify and expand its retail presence include plans to pilot six physical shop-in-shops within brick-and-mortar stores of partner retailers across France. Shein has previously operated limited-time pop-ups with locations in New York City, Vancouver, the Los Angeles area and other key markets.
"We're thrilled to partner with Shein to bring our wide selection of books to a whole new audience of Gen Z and millennial readers," said Rob Lambert, VP of global sales and marketing at Alibris. "Together, we're making it more convenient than ever for readers to discover and access the books they want."
