Global online fashion retailer, SHEIN, has opened its first-ever physical outlet in Paris. Consequently, the Chinese fashion giant successfully attracted both a vast queue of customers and a cohort of protestors.

SHEIN’s move may generate amplified interest in Japan given the nation's rapidly growing online retail market. The attempt to migrate into physical retail despite the global growth of e-commerce may be perceived as a strategic, albeit risky, business maneuver. Japanese consumers and business folk alike are likely to follow SHEIN's progress with interest, balancing the potential gains from reachability and customer experience with the overheads associated with physical stores.

In the U.S. or EU, the digital-to-physical pivot is not unheard of, with several primarily-online businesses, like Warby Parker or Indochino, establishing physical locations to boost their brand visibility. However, such a move is usually met with mixed responses, and SHEIN's step isn't an exception. Nonetheless, the tradition of combing e-commerce with traditional retail—or 'omnichannel'—is increasingly recognized as a valuable strategy in Western markets.