The Impulso Podcast From China to the world: The secrets behind SHEIN's success | Impulso E134 [EN]
Dec 8, 2025
Kaifei, a Chinese ecommerce and supply-chain expert, dives into the secrets of SHEIN's remarkable success. He reveals how SHEIN reframes global competition with a focus on selection, speed, quality, and savings. The discussion touches on the brand's innovative small-batch strategy that minimizes inventory risk for non-standard apparel. Kaifei also exposes the challenges traditional OEM retailers face with dead stock and highlights how data optimization and factory-task matching enhance SHEIN's efficiency in production and waste reduction.
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Small Batches, Huge Scale
- Shein's ultra-low prices come from combining very small batches with massive production scale across many SKUs.
- This mix reduces inventory risk while enabling bargaining power over suppliers to push prices down.
SKU Breadth As Fashion Experimentation
- Shein's SKU count and fast turnover let it act like a vast long tail of fashion experiments.
- High SKU variety attracts demand without requiring high sell-through per SKU.
Lock Capacity To Absorb Cost Pressure
- Use 100% factory capacity commitments to negotiate lower costs and absorb rising labor expenses.
- Accept small per-item margins while leveraging volume to keep prices attractive.