// Shein site traffic increases despite recent claims of “exploitative working conditions” at factories
// Traffic to the site peaked at more than 616,000 visitors on October 23
Shein has reported increased site traffic despite recent claims of “exploitative working conditions” at its supplier factories.
The fast fashion retailer was recently embroiled in controversy surrounding working conditions following Channel 4’s Untold documentary.
However, the news of it allegedly breaking Beijing labour laws at two of its supplier factories has seen little negative impact on its site traffic, Retail Week reported.
On the week commencing October 15, when details of working conditions hit the press and the accompanying documentary aired, Shein.co.uk’s site traffic recorded a mere dip before reaching a four-month-high the following week.
Traffic to the site peaked at more than 616,000 visitors on October 23, the busiest day since its summer sale in July.
Traffic during the week commencing October 22 reached 3.8 million visits, making it the busiest week of the month, up 13% on the week before. Average traffic for the month of October was up 13% year on year.
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Following Channel 4’s documentary, Shein said it is “extremely concerned” by the claims presented in the programme.
Untold: Inside the Shein Machine showed factory workers on 18 hours a day with no weekends.
The investigation saw an undercover journalist named “Mei” visit factories to reveal the appalling hours and wages of Shein workers. Mei claimed to find evidence of “exploitative working conditions” during her investigation.
The locations of the factories were not revealed in order to protect the undercover reporter and her colleagues.
Workers in the factory received a wage of 3p per item produced. If they made a mistake, they were fined up to three quarters of an average workers daily salary (100 yuan/£12).
