Over the past decade, China's cross-border e-commerce has experienced explosive growth. At present, the industry is accelerating the transformation to the refinement and brand building of the first chain, emphasizing the efficient, innovative and flexible digital first chain. SHEIN, a new generation of global enterprises in China, will carry out large-scale efficiency improvement and standardized output of the common "small single quick reaction" model, and drive the transformation of the first business from traditional production and manufacturing to digitalization and the Internet by establishing the influence at both ends of the smile curve, and become the maker of industrial rules, so that China's flexible innovation chain can promote change and innovation in a larger scope of the global fashion industry.
What is a "small single quick reflex" flexible on-demand chain? It refers to the style test with a smaller order, if the market sales feedback is good, then quickly chase the order, if the market feedback is not good, immediately stop production. Manufacturers manufacture and produce products according to real-time needs to adapt to the ever-changing market dynamics in the industry. Unlike in the past, when each order was produced tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of inventory stocking, manufacturers were easy to put themselves in a passive position.
On the other hand, "small orders" mean managing a large number of fragmented orders at the same time. It is not difficult to have a few or dozens of small orders to react quickly, but it is not easy to make thousands of first-class merchants and large-scale small orders run at the same time and react quickly, which is also the biggest difference between SHEIN's innovative "small single quick reaction" model and the previous model.
The "small single quick reaction" mode has been operated extremely efficiently, testing SHEIN's management ability to a large number of ** chains. Therefore, on the basis of the flexible first-chain model, SHEIN is also actively using its own technical advantages and experience to invest in the digital transformation of the first-class chain. That is, from the front-end fashion trend, design and development, manufacturing, warehousing, logistics and other links to carry out the whole link of informatization, upgrading, driving the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries such as garment manufacturing.
Before cooperating with SHEIN, most of the factories in the upstream and downstream of the ** chain relied on manual work, relying on traditional methods such as excel and email to arrange production, which was inefficient and did not have a competitive advantage in the industry. After cooperating with SHEIN, they completed the transformation of the digital factory with the whole chain of digitalization, which greatly reduced material waste and worker waiting time.
On an on-demand** basis, factories are able to reduce a brand's inventory rate to single digits, compared to an average of 30% for other brands in the industry. This technology-driven, flexible, on-demand chain not only improves industrial efficiency, reduces waste, but also helps protect the environment. At the same time, the brand can give 100% of the cost reduction due to waste reduction and efficiency improvement to the end consumer, which greatly reduces the sales of goods**.
It can be seen from teaching its own experience to help factories improve efficiency and reduce inventory costs, and SHEIN has never been stingy with the cultivation of top businessmen. In 2023, SHEIN announced that it will invest 500 million yuan in 5 years to continue to deepen the empowerment of leading businesses in technological innovation, training support, factory expansion, and community services. In terms of technological innovation, SHEIN has established its first garment manufacturing innovation research center on the basis of the flexible ** chain created by industry innovation.
The garment manufacturing innovation research center, which covers an area of nearly 60,000 square meters, is mainly used to develop lean production solutions for innovative garment manufacturing, explore the establishment of "flexible chain standards", and export research results to industrial manufacturers, and promote the continuous operation of leading factories in a more scientific and lean way. In 2023, great progress has been made in technological innovation, factory expansion, training support, and community service. By the end of 2023, SHEIN has carried out more than 620 full-link trainings to improve the ability of the whole process of business. At the same time, SHEIN has helped more than 130 cooperative factories to upgrade 430,000 square meters of factory buildings, carried out more than 620 full-link trainings throughout the year, upgraded canteens and dormitories, and steadily promoted many community public welfare projects.
In general, SHEIN has set a new benchmark in global competition with its innovative "small single quick reaction" flexible on-demand chain model. This model not only significantly improves the speed and accuracy of response to changes in the fashion market, but also successfully leads the world's leading businesses from traditional production to digital transformation, and promotes the global apparel manufacturing industry to enter a new stage of development. In the future, SHEIN will continue to deepen its strategic deployment in brand building and chain management, and rely on strong digital technology and innovation capabilities to promote the global fashion industry towards a more efficient and sustainable direction.