What: Shein is both customer-obsessed like Amazon, and data-obsessed like China. The combination lures customers and keeps them constantly engaged as well as operating with ruthless efficiency.

Why it is important: It demonstrates that low prices are as attractive as ever to young shoppers, even though surveys suggest that reducing their environmental footprint is a primary concern. And this is the result of formidable efficiency.

Shein the Chinese online fashion company is one of two Chinese firms to be valued at $100 bn or more (the other is ByteDance, TikTok’s owner). Its success is built on three elements:

• Supply chain: it taps into thousands of suppliers whom it pays on time generating trust. This in turn allows it to put in smaller orders. Last year Shein offered 1.3 million new styles compared to 35 000 at Zara and 25 000 at H&M. And prices were 40-60% cheaper.
• It connects suppliers together with its own software allowing updates, output adjustments, and detailed up-to-date knowledge of any market.
• Shein has become a master of “gamification”: customers browsing Shein’s app is like walking through a store with excitement, random discounts, micro-influencers and more.

In the first three months of 2022, Shein accounted for almost a third of fast fashion in the US, against H&M (17%) and Zara (10%).

Shein: fastest fashion online