Li Pei went to the online marketplace Taobao.com on April 5 to check on the delivery of clothes she had bought from Etam, but was shocked to find the French fashion brand's shop had gone offline without any prior notice. It seemed to be a delayed April Fool's joke, except that so far, no official announce-ment has been made as Etam stores in many shopping malls across the country are also reportedly to close due to poor performance.