Introduction.
Branding strategy is a significant undertaking that helps companies create client relationships. It allows the business to influence the client into making purchases and can inspire loyalty by helping the company portray a positive image that appeals to the client base. Companies that struggle with public relations and perceptions must strategize their branding approach to ensure it appeals to the customers of risk going out of business. Shein, the world’s largest online-only retailer with over $30 billion in annual sales, is one of the world’s most successful brands (Picchi, n.p). Shein’s success in the fashion industry is built on the brand’s ability to produce cheap alternative fashion pieces in real-time, making it one of the most popular fashion brands among youths as they not only access the latest fashion but do so at an affordable price (Bangalore, n.p). However, with recent developments in the company’s practices and history, several ethical and customer relations concerns threaten its brand image, requiring a restructuring of its brand image.
Current Situation: The State of the Brand.
The current state of the brand and its branding strategies center around its fast, innovative, and timely delivery of the latest fashion at the lowest possible cost. The brand’s image is built on fast delivery and low prices, making it an endearing brand to the youthful generation who have a high affinity for high-end fashion items but lack the capability to acquire such pieces. Shein uses an in-house design team that closely analyzes trending data in fashion. The team can utilize the data to map out trends, which later inform the final designs, allowing Shein to produce clothing articles that reflect the latest fashion trends faster than its competitors, especially the high-end brands (Bangalore, n.p). For instance, if a Gucci purse is trending online, Shein can analyze the trend and identify its unique appeal. Afterward, the designers utilized their creativity to create an alternative brand resembling the Gucci bag, capturing its essence and selling it at a much lower price point.
Shein controls most of the essential elements of its supply chain, allowing it to design, prototype, and ship products independently, enabling it to deliver the latest fashion pieces at a low price and faster rate than its competitors. According to (Picchi, n.p), the company can produce over 2,000 new articles daily. The company’s success depends on the brand image it has created, which informs all its branding strategies. All the branding strategies are engineered to shape public perception of the company, establishing it as a cheap alternative to high-end fashion. The company markets itself on low prices, original pieces inspired by the latest fashion trends, and fast delivery of the newest style. The branding strategy that highlights the business’s success and model also becomes detrimental as it exposes it to numerous ethical concerns that will force it to reconsider and restructure its branding approaches.
Problems of the Brand and Key Insights.
The brand is currently healthy, but the numerous ethical concerns and Shein’s commitment to keeping its prices low are becoming problematic. The company’s branding that centers around low costs and timely delivery of products became its most detrimental branding strategy as it exposed them to several ethical concerns. Keeping the prices down and delivering items on time creates avenues for concern about the company’s environmental sustainability commitment and ethical treatment of its labor (Liu, 1794-1801). The fast-fashion business model is detrimental to the environment due to the massive amounts of textile waste and natural resources required to sustain profitable operations (Liu, 1794-1801). A lot of energy and water is spent on various cloth-making processes like dying, which concern environmental conservationist groups. The business model also thrives on and encourages overconsumption, as customers always look for the following trending pieces. The business model thus led to the accumulation of textile waste (Liu, 1794-1801).
Textile waste often occurs in third-world countries (Liu, 1794-1801). However, since the company cuts corners to ensure low prices, the clothes are exported in poor conditions that locals in those countries barely use. The material must be of higher quality to encourage longer second-hand use before discarding the items to landfills. The practices lead to the accumulation of textile wastes in massive landfills across the Global South. The dumps are environmentally degraded, facilitating other concerns like the loss of viable agricultural land (Liu, 1794-1801). Aside from the environmental concerns, the company must address labor concerns across its supply chain. Ensuring the latest fashion is delivered promptly, even within 24 hours, Shein exploits its employees (Liu, 1794-1801). Reports suggest that the employees across the supply chain are overworked and exposed to undignified working conditions (Liu, 1794-1801). Therefore, the branding strategy the company utilizes must be adapted to create an image that adheres to environmental sustainability and dignified treatment of workers within the supply chain without losing the aspects that have made it successful.
Recommendations and Rationales for Traditional Brand Strategies.
The branding strategy for Shein needs revision to incorporate the environmental aspects and a dignified work environment to reflect an image of sustainability. The detractors of the company and its business models are concerned about the environment and the working conditions across the supply chain. Introducing a branding strategy that caters to their concerns is crucial. It will help the company maintain an appositive image among its target audience and reduce the impact of distractors that can lead to a fall in sales and revenue (Bangalore, n.p). However, the new branding strategy must complement and integrate elements of the current branding strategy responsible for the company’s success in a competitive industry. The traditional branding strategies that can help with the revision include:
Positioning Strategy.
Brand positioning strategies generate a unique perspective on the clients’ minds toward the specific brand. Brand positioning helps differentiate the brand from its competitors by establishing its uniqueness and advantages. Shein currently positions itself as a company capable of producing the latest fashion trends at the lowest possible price. Therefore, the affordability and timely delivery of the late fashion pieces inform the brand positioning. The company’s positioning strategy endears it to its target audience, who want to experience high-end fashion without paying the premium that high-end brands charge. The positioning strategy is crucial as it helps Shein gain competitive advantages over its competitors in the competitive fashion and fast-fashion industries. Primarily focusing on position, the brand around affordability and timely delivery is detrimental as it ignores the ethical concerns raised towards the company. The company should revise its positioning strategy and incorporate elements that showcase its commitment to environmental sustainability and improving working conditions for all its personnel, especially those in lower supply chain levels. Shein’s positioning should reflect a commitment to resolving the issue rather than sticking to the old model that focuses on endorsing affordability and timely delivery. However, Shein should incorporate the emerging issues into its branding strategies while maintaining the brand position it created over the years, which is responsible for its success (Picchi, n.p).
Values Propositions.
Value propositioning defines a company’s tactics to showcase the value the clients acquire by interacting with the business. Value propositions help the company identify its selling point to appeal to the target market. Shein’s value proposition currently centers around its ability to produce cheap goods on demand. Sustaining the value proposition facilitates the ethical concerns that plague the company. Therefore, the company must find innovative ways to incorporate environmental sustainability and dignified working conditions in its value proposition. The branding strategy should contain components showcasing the company’s commitment to sustainable environmental practice and dignified working conditions without demanding affordability and timely delivery. Finding the balance between the new aspects and the old elements responsible for its success becomes the primary goal of new value propositioning strategies. Shein’s clients must feel that making the purchases contributes to elevating working conditions along the supply chain and facilitates environmentally sustainable practices. Revising its value proposition to include aspects that acknowledge environmental sustainability and address all the ethical concerns associated with its supply chain is crucial. It can help the company deflect unwanted attention from critics. The value proposition will help the company create instances where clients feel they are part of the change in direction the company is taking.
Brand Essence and Brand Personality.
Shein should change elements of its brand personality to incorporate aspects that address ethical concerns. The new approach will help the brand present itself as an environmentally conscious brand that supports the dignified treatment of workers regardless of their position along the supply chain. The current brand personality centered around affordability and timely deliverance creates a complaint persona, which showcases Shein as a beneficiary and promoter of unethical practices (Dieleman, n.p). The brand image ignores the emerging concerns over the company’s operations, especially its treatment of the environment and workers in its supply chain. Environmental suitability is becoming a significant concern that all companies need to deal with. Companies with poor environmental sustainability practices and those with poor work conditions are likely to face negative backlash. Customers have the potential to view such companies as profit-oriented and detached from the reality of the real world. Shein should ensure that its operations are for the public’s good and not exist only to serve the corporate class and their need to generate excessive profits (Liu, 1794-1801). Incorporating elements that showcase the company’s need to adhere to sustainable practices and promote dignified conditions can help introduce compassion as an integral element of its brand persona. The company should find ways of boosting its compassionate brand persona by introducing aspects of environmental sustainability and dignified human treatment of workers in its marketing strategies and materials.
Cultural and Narrative Strategies.
The Cultural Context of the Brand.
A brand’s cultural context acknowledges its efforts to create cultural ideologies, values, meanings, symbols, and perceptions that establish and identify it among its target clients (Holt & Cameron, 121-234). The brand’s cultural context often adheres to the prevailing cultural context of the external environment (Holt & Cameron, 121-234). Shein’s current branding strategy adheres to a culture of consumption. The company thrives on consumerism, where customers are encouraged to make regular purchases, which the company benefits from by having affordable and readily available products (Dieleman, n.p). However, the external cultural context that informs policies and other elements can affect the company’s operations and compel it to revise its strategies to become sustainability-compliant and ensure dignified working conditions. The concerns over pollution and global warming are growing problems in the contemporary cultural context, forcing companies to rethink their branding strategy. The current cultural context, especially the external environment, is crucial, and Shein should change his branding strategy to adhere to contemporary issues. It is becoming apparent that modern consumers want products and services that reflect a company’s commitment to the environment, its employees, and the humane treatment of everyone in its supply chain.
Shein’s branding should change, and the company should present itself as environment-conscious and commit to ensuring employees operate in dignified working conditions. When developing a brand’s cultural context (Holt & Cameron, 121-234), the company needs to model its image to appeal to the prevailing societal culture. Holt and Cameron (121-234) encourage companies to study the external environment and align their practices to reflect the culture. Though Shein caters to a niche clientele, its detractors can significantly hurt its ability to acquire resources and tarnish its image. Receiving the label of an environmentally ignorant company can hurt the company’s reputation and affect the relationships it has established, especially its marketing affiliates. Marketing companies and facilitating mediums like TV stations can denounce association with Shein if it fails in its branding strategy (Dieleman, n.p). Therefore, structuring its branding strategies to acknowledge and appreciate the emerging and popular cultural context allows Shein to develop an appealing reputation that elevates its brand.
Brand Narrative Statement.
At Shein, we pride ourselves on producing and offering high-quality products that give our users a unique, wholesome experience at an affordable price with timely delivery. The company is dedicated to maintaining high-quality products at an affordable price, with offers unmatched by other competitors. Workers at Shein are skilled and utilize the latest technology to identify and analyze fashion trends to ensure customers always have access to the latest trending fashion items they desire. Every operation undertaken to get the fashion items to our clients and employees’ input at any point in the supply chain adheres to the necessary environmental substantiality and dignified human living standards. All materials acquired in the supply chain and all the labor employed at every step to get the product or service to our clients are ethically sourced. The company has also invested extensively in various research and development activities to promote environmental sustainability and dignified working conditions. Therefore, purchasing a product or paying for a service from Shein contributes to the company’s efforts to ensure its operations adhere to eco-friendly practices and that all employers across the supply chain receive fair pay. An association with Shein guarantees access to affordable, high-quality fashion items conveniently delivered without compromising on environmental sustainability and the dignified treatment of workers along the supply chain, regardless of their position.
Conclusion.
In conclusion, Shein’s branding strategy is effective and has been a source of the company’s remarkable success for years. However, the company needs to respond to the various concerns emerging from the cultural context that create limitations in its traditional marketing and branding strategies. The new approach should address the problems, including guarantees that its operations adhere to environmental suitability practices and that all its workers across the supply chain access fair compensation for the effort. Incorporating the new aspects should complement the successful elements of the current strategies that focus on the quality of products and services.
Work Cited.
Bangalore, Sanvi. “Shein’s Mounting Ethical Concerns May Be Pushing Some Gen Z Shoppers to Look Elsewhere.” CBS News, CBS News, 11 Aug. 2023, www.cbsnews.com/news/shein-controversy-why-is-it-so-popular/. Accessed 28 Nov. 2023.
Dieleman, Marleen. Strategy at Shein: The Secrets of Ultra-Fast Fashion. SAGE Publications: SAGE Business Cases Originals, 2023. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781529622713
Holt, Douglas, and Douglas Cameron. Cultural strategy: Using innovative ideologies to build breakthrough brands. OUP Oxford, 2010.
Liu, Jiaye. “Research on the Business Strategy and Deficiency of the Fast Fashion Industry to Enhance Development- a Case Study of Shein.” 2022 2nd International Conference on Economic Development and Business Culture (ICEDBC 2022). Atlantis Press, 2022. https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-036-7_268
Picchi, Aimee. “Shein Lawsuit Accuses Fast-Fashion Site of RICO Violations – CBS News.” Www.cbsnews.com, CBS NEWS, 17 July 2023, www.cbsnews.com/news/shein-lawsuit-rico-sued-case/. Accessed 28 Nov. 2023.
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