UK retailers are pushing the government to act on a customs loophole that has handed Chinese fast-fashion giants a structural cost advantage. Consumer Edge data shows which signatories have the most to gain.
In late May 2026, fifteen UK retailers, including Marks & Spencer, Next, Primark and Argos, wrote jointly to Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves calling for a £2.60 flat fee on small parcels worth less than £135, according to the Financial Times. The charge mirrors a €3 duty the EU is set to impose from July 2026, and would close an exemption that currently allows low-value imports to enter the UK free of customs duties and checks.
Measuring the exposure
One way to assess which signatories have the most at stake is to look at how many of their own shoppers are already spending at Shein or Temu. Consumer Edge UK transaction data tracks cross-shopping behaviour, or the share of each brand’s cardholders who also transact at a given platform in the same period.
Fashion retailers lead the exposure rankings. Over 15% of shoppers at Debenhams, New Look, ASOS and Primark also transact at Shein, reflecting the direct overlap in their customer base. Home and DIY brands such as B&Q and Wickes skew toward Temu, whose broader product range competes more directly with general merchandise. Their overlap rates are lower, in the 5–7% range.
For the retailers with the highest cross-shopping rates, even a modest shift in spend back to domestic platforms could be meaningful. Consumer Edge data shows that Shein cross-shopping among UK retail customers has roughly tripled since 2022 for most of the signatories. A policy intervention that slows or reverses that trajectory could be most impactful for the brands where the customer overlap is deepest.
The EU’s July implementation date will also be worth watching as a natural test case. If continental European spending data shows a deceleration in Shein and Temu cross-shopping following the €3 duty, that could sharpen the argument for UK action.
