Shein Launches First Credit Card in Mexican Market
Kate Nishimura
5 min read
Fast fashion phenom Shein has made its foray into the branded credit card space with a new offering in Latin America.
The China-founded online marketplace has partnered with Mexican fintech firm Stori, announcing the launch of the Shein x Stori Mastercard last week in a release viewed by Sourcing Journal.
With the card, users will earn double the points when purchasing products from Shein, with an added bonus of 250 Shein points upon their first purchase, according to Stori. The card is accepted at more than 24 million locations globally, and it’s available in both physical and digital formats, the company said. Both Shein and Stori will offer users special discounts during national annual shopping holidays such as Buen Fin, which takes place Nov. 15 through Nov. 18 this year.
Shein’s choice to debut its first global credit card offering in Mexico underscores its hopes for the market, where it is reportedly exploring building a satellite production campus to get closer to consumers in the Western Hemisphere—including the U.S.
“The collaboration with Stori is a natural step for Shein, as it is part of providing more and better payment options for our users, improving the shopping experience, integrating financial solutions and helping to build credit history. This will undoubtedly win favor of our customers,? Shein head of global payments Ted Wang said.
Mexico is also experiencing unbridled e-commerce growth; according to the Mexican Association of Online Sales (AMVO), the country has seen a dramatic increase in online shopping, propelling a 24.6-percent increase in sales in 2023. This trend exceeds growth rates for other nearby e-commerce markets like Brazil, as well as well-established global markets like the Philippines and India, the group’s data showed.
“During the Covid-19 pandemic, Mexican e-commerce saw a dramatic acceleration,” the U.S. International Trade Administration wrote late last year. The country is now positioned within the top five globally in terms of e-commerce retail growth rate, with a projected e-commerce market value of $70.4 billion by 2027 “due to improvements in connectivity, enhanced financial inclusion, streamlined logistics, and increased digital literacy.”
U.S. ITA pinpointed Latin American e-commerce marketplace Mercado Libre as a favored retailer among Mexico’s online shoppers, along with Amazon, Walmart and Shein.
The country is also experiencing an upward trend in credit card market growth. In 2024, the annual volume of credit card transactions in the country’s cards and payments market totals $214.1 billion, and it’s expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 10 percent between now and 2028, according to GlobalData.
While credit cards are catching on fast, AMVO data shows that 74 percent of online shoppers still opt to use debit cards, illustrating the scope of the potential for conversion. Mexico’s government and its central bank are also promoting the growth of credit cards and electronic payments.
Those trends have spelled success for Mexican startup Stori, Shein’s new partner in the credit card space. The collaboration comes on the heels of the fintech firm’s August round of equity and debt financing, which totaled $212 million. At the time, Stori said it would use the cash infusion to accelerate its growth and further its mission of “democratizing access to quality financial services for the often underserved middle mass population in Latin America.”
“This new product not only offers the flexibility and security of being able to be used anywhere in the world thanks to Mastercard’s backing, but also incorporates benefits designed specifically for users looking to maximize their shopping experience,” Stori co-founder Marlene Garayzar said last week.
“We are very proud to be the first partner in the world with which Shein has made this kind of alliance,” she added. “We have created a tool that facilitates access to credit, and rewards everyday use, in addition to always ensuring that users receive information on how to use it responsibly.”
Garayzar has said Stori was founded to address an “unfair gap in the traditional financial system in Mexico,” serving as both a financial education platform and an avenue for Mexican consumers to build credit. Having released its first card in 2020, Stori touts its status as the only credit card company in Mexico with a 99-percent approval rate. It now has about 3 million users across the country.
The credit card launch stands in contrast to Shein’s other plans for global expansion and market penetration, where it’s experiencing considerable pushback from international governments concerned with its social and environmental impacts
The company, which is reportedly eyeing an initial public offering (IPO) in London, is being targeted by British officials over forced labor concerns.
Labour Party politician Liam Byrne, who heads parliament’s business and trade committee, called for the U.K. government to ban imports made in Xinjiang earlier this month—a move that would generate greater scrutiny for brands like Shein doing business in China.
The company has repeated assertions that it does not tolerate human rights abuses in its supply chains, though in its own sustainability report, released in August, it copped to uncovering two cases of child labor in its supply chain.
Meanwhile, September saw Italy’s antitrust watchdog launch a greenwashing probe into Shein’s Dublin-based operations, which manage its online presence, over the possibility of misleading sustainability claims tied to its clothing.
