I think that Shein is a fascinating company, and it’s well worth taking a look at what they have done over the years to achieve such a large amount of success despite having, well, a very sub-par product to be frank. The clothes aren’t good folks, but you see this company everywhere. They’re all over social media (we’ll talk about that being key to their success), you’ve probably seen at least one Instagram-er mention the voucher that Shein gave them for 30% off just for their followers. They even had an event at New York Fashion Week! So how have they pulled this off?

Hook ’em with the low prices and the discount codes

Step one in their plan is quite simple: their prices are lower than anybody else’s and they have voucher codes to save you even more. You can get dresses for less than £20, shoes for under £15, and trousers and tops as low as £5. And then you get to use your coupon code (Here’s a good resource for 3rd party coupons) for an additional 15-30% off. Oh but it looks like it only works if you order is over £75, so maybe I’ll throw …

If you work with us here at Cambridge Web Studio, before we start doing any concrete work on design or building out a website we will be doing a brand analysis for you. We find that most of our clients are unsure about what that is, and why it will benefit their company. Even if your company is just you and an Instagram feed right now, you have a brand. Let’s go over some of the basics.

What is a brand?

Your brand is not your logo, your website, or your hashtags although those do all contribute to it. If I had to distill it down to it’s simplest essence, your brand is the feeling that people get when they hear your name. Let’s take Nike for example, what sorts of feelings and images do you get when you hear that name? You might think ‘athlete’, ‘determination’, or ‘courage’. As an exercise come up with some other major brand names and brainstorm what you associate with them.

If you’re thinking to yourself ‘That’s all well and good for giant companies but I’m just one person’ well then think of Oprah, Martha Stewart, or Tony Robbins. Those are all brands built …