More than 53 billion videos with #Shein hashtag viewed on TikTok; hundreds of thousands of new fashion products uploaded to the site every year and 261 million consumers expected in 2025 according to the Financial Times. In addition to a valuation that would be around 100 billion dollars (source: Bloomberg).
The Shein phenomenon, a company founded by Chris Xu in 2012 and today one of the most downloaded shopping apps in Europe and the USA, has exploded over the last decade, entering a segment, that of fast fashion, dominated by a few big and grappling with epochal changes. Including the management of a business model based on consumerism in a world increasingly oriented towards sustainability. A problem that Shein is also trying to address, as Peter Pernot-Day, global head of strategy and corporate affairs, explains.
According to Chris Xu, the company’s mission is to make beauty accessible to everyone. Marketing experts, on the other hand, have defined your business model as «fast fashion on steroids». Can you explain to me how it actually works?
The model is based on what we call “manufacturing on demand”. We create a design and produce up to 200 examples worldwide. Then we put it online and see if and how many consumers buy the item. We produce it according to demand, otherwise we put those few specimens on sale and don’t reissue it. So we cut the “waste”, not having to guess what consumers will want.
How many products do you launch?