E-commerce websites cement the neoliberal order with increased material excess from production and no seller accountability.

However, the fact that we can even name and shame Green and Amoruso is a privilege which we must fight to keep in the online age. The labyrinthian nature of the online world makes it increasingly hard to understand who is behind, and therefore responsible for, online businesses. Recently, the brands that ousted Topshop and the like from the top of the market have faced competition from a new host of online stores. Sites such as SHEIN, Romwe and Rose Gal sell a cornucopia of clothes at cut-throat prices. The legitimacy of such sites has been repeatedly called into question. Customers complain about clothes being far different to how they are advertised, or orders never showing up. Perhaps what is most concerning is the seeming lack of real people behind these businesses. There is little insight into who actually owns or runs such companies; in 2019, El Mundo reported that the supposed founder of SHEIN may not even exist. Although poor performance and customer dissatisfaction are serious issues, a lack of clarity on ownership and control is the most dangerous aspect of e-commerce. With the ghostliness of online business revealed, any promise of true accountability disappears.

“A commitment to unrestrained capitalism and an increasingly deregulated system has bred a financial culture of concealment and evasion”

A long view must be taken on the aftermath of a purely online retail world. Online, the worst excesses of capitalism will only escalate. There may be more convenience, competitive pricing and choice, but there is also more confusion around where, and to whom, our money is going to. It seems that the internet is finishing the job that neoliberalism started several decades ago. A commitment to unrestrained capitalism and an increasingly deregulated system has bred a financial culture of concealment and evasion. This culture has created a world in which Philip Green’s wife can receive a $1.2 billion dividend from Arcadia, tax-free thanks to her Monaco residency. It has created a world in which the same Philip Green can be appointed as a government advisor, asked to examine state spending. Under the anonymity and opacity of the internet, this culture can only fester. In an online world, will we be able to criticise the next Philip Green? We will most likely not know who he is, or where he lives, or what else he owns. We may not even know that he exists. In the age of e-commerce, dreams of holding corporations to account grow increasingly distant.