Boohoo Company’s Strategic Environmental Analysis – 402 Words

Economic Analysis

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns led to massive lay-offs and left many people without sources of income which undermined their spending power (Jones, 2020)

As a low-cost brand, Boohoo is forced to offer completive prices to its clients, which it does at the expense of workers’ wages which results in job dissatisfaction and decreased productivity (Krekel, Wards, and De Neve, 2019)

Social Factors

On-campus influencers may discover that Boohoo utilises unethical manufacturing practices such as forced labour in poor countries and cease working with the company.

Social, music, and other influencers have substantial power over their audiences, and one negative comment about Boohoo on their part can substantially harm the company’s reputation.

Additionally, influencers may refuse to be associated with fast-fashion brands such as Boohoo due to their detrimental effect on the environment (Bick, Halsey, and Ekenga, 2018).

Technology Factors

As a retail company, Boohoo does not design or manufacture any innovative solutions. It is also a large enterprise. This prevented it from receiving government support during the pandemic since the UK government made equity contributions primarily to start-ups (OECD, 2020)

Environment Factors

As it was mentioned earlier, the fast-fashion industry is one of the main contributors to environmental pollution, which also jeopardizes human health. Thus, recently, retail companies have been experiencing considerable pressure to embrace the use of sustainable materials and packaging to reduce their footprint (Moore, 2020).

Legal Factors

Boohoo has been accused of pursuing modern slavery when it was discovered that its workers in Leicester were paid twice below the minimum wage (Boohoo, 2021).

Recently, Boohoo also was accused of exploitation by its Pakistani workers because they were underpaid and had to work 24-hour shifts (Bland, Baloch, and Kelly, 2020).

The company was additionally accused of subjecting employees to the risk of being infected with the COVID-19 since it did not follow social distancing measures at its factories (Skopeliti, 2020).

Considering all of these facts, the company can potentially not lose customers disappointed with such practices but also face punishment from the authorities.

Reference List

Bick, R., Halsey, E., and Ekenga, C. (2018) ‘The global environmental injustice of fast fashion’, Environmental Health, 17, pp. 1–2.

Bland, A., Baloch, S. M., and Kelly, A. (2020) ‘Boohoo selling clothes made by Pakistani workers ‘who earned 29p an hour’’, The Guardian, Web.

Boohoo could face us import ban due to ‘slave labour’ allegations (2021) Euronews, Web.

Jones, K. (2020) ‘These charts show how COVID-19 has changed consumer spending around the world’. World Economic Forum.

Krekel, C., Wards, G., and De Neve, J. (2019) ‘Happy employees and their impact on firm performance’. London School of Economics.

Moore, D. (2020) ‘Retailers feeling pressure from consumers to prioritise sustainable packaging’. Circular.

OECD. (2020) COVID-19 government financing support programmes for businesses. Web.

Skopeliti, C. (2020) ‘Boohoo ignored issues at factories, guilty of ‘many failures’, review finds’, The Independent, Web.