Web Summit Knows Better Than To Give Greenwashing a Platform, Right?
"SHEIN has less than 2% unsold inventory" Donald Tang, Vice Chairman of SHEIN proudly made this statement in the most earnest way possible on the Web Summit centre stage yesterday. He talked further about what makes SHEIN a winner in their category and how they are using technology to make themselves relevant to today's customer.
He mentioned that their data driven app which they use to track customer engagement and test new products & an AI powered re-order system are major keys in their growth. Design to production takes only 10-14 days.
The fact that they produce only what is demanded and use AI to track and respond apparently creates an efficiency gain. This efficiency gain is what is then passed on to customers via low prices.
Customer centricity is at the core of SHEIN which is why when they surveyed their customers about creating a second hand platform and over 50 % of them were in favour, SHEIN quickly created and launched SHEIN exchange.
The above is the gist of his keynote speech and if you were in that audience and had no awareness of the reality of SHEIN, you would be impressed. When you hear words like 'data driven' 'efficiency gain' 'AI' 'customer centricity' of course, you would believe that this has all the signs of a great business.
Do not get me wrong, SHEIN is a great business, there is absolutely no doubt about it being a profit machine. We have to ask the question however, at what cost? Someone has to pay, right?
The fact that Tang was talking at us and this wasn't a discussion meant there was no way to ask him for example what % of his customers on SHEIN exchange are there to buy USED vs trying to get rid of SHEIN items they never wore?
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If you are buying something new at 2 euro, how much will you be able to get selling it second hand? What % of the business does SHEIN plan to make second hand vs new?
If you are designing items and producing them within 10-14 days, what is the toll on the human capital? What % of the 'efficiency gains' are you passing to your factory workers and designers vs your bottom line? How often do you revisit this?
SHEIN adds over 2000 skus a day on average, so it is pretty impressive that they only have less than 2% of it unsold, if this is true, what % of it are your customers actually wearing? What is the average wear?
In his entire speech about purpose and sustainability at SHEIN there wasn't a single mention of a quantified goal. In fact when I read SHEIN's sustainability report, there wasn't a single figure or chart. For a data driven company, that is shocking. For a company greenwashing for profit though, absolutely on par.
I am doubling down on my disappointment in Paddy Cosgrave , someone who says has interests in learning about climate change for giving a platform and center stage to a company whose sole purpose is contribute to climate adversity in the name of profit. You cannot have the first lady of Ukraine come ask the Tech community to use tech that does not destroy and the very next day have someone who is contributing to exactly that for our planet.
Paddy Cosgrave if you ever read this, here are some companies in fashion shaping the future in the most innovative ways keeping in mind that we need to leave the world better than we found it . Perhaps next year one of them gets Web Summit center stage.
Materials Certification Specialist @ Bestseller | London College of Fashion
2 年The only way Shein can be good for the planet is by not existing at all. They tapped into influencer culture and popularity of haul videos to appeal to a younger audience. I remember when Shein first started to gain popularity it was associated with poor quality and low value products, but they’re trying to turn that image around with pop-up stores and aggressive marketing and advertising, without doing anything to actually make the products better or sustainable. Just the volume of goods they produce is contradictory to being good for the environment or their manufactures. They’re also feeding into the use-and-throw element of cheap fast fashion, not to mention that their products are not durable and fit to be resold. It’s a shame that visibility on platforms such as Web Summit might give them more credibility than they deserve.
Co-founder & CTO @ Flare | Order scheduling & future delivery
2 年Nick Reed we need you there next year!
TechFoundHer I Tech Innovator I Women Tech Founder Champion I Top 100 People in Irish Tech
2 年Excellent article and points/ thank you ????
Building Shopfront ??
2 年Wow I didn't even see this at Web Summit. Clearly didn't focus on the fashion industry too much when they were researching..