Surpassing a billion hits and lodging £4billion of net sales, ASOS continues to go from strength to strength – and it is in part thanks to mobile and personalisation.
Reporting its half-year figures today, the pureplay online fashion retailer reported retail sales up by 27%, showing growth of 22% in the UK and 13% overseas. Much of this is down to excellent websites and apps and personalisation, delivering 17% growth in active customers, order frequency up by 8% and average basket value growing by 2%.
Commenting on the results, ASOS CEO Nick Beighton says: “These results show strong trading at the same time as we are making substantial investment in our future. Our customer engagement is going from strength to strength and we’ve achieved more than a billion site visits for the first time. Alongside our investment in our people and our technology, we are accelerating investment in our distribution and logistics, laying the foundation for £4 billion of net sales, a further step in building ASOS into the world’s number one destination for fashion loving 20-somethings.”
So what is ASOS’s secret? According to former PepsiCo exec and current CEO of E Fundamentals, John Maltman, “ASOS proves again that a forward-thinking digital strategy can overcome the consumer spending slump. A brilliant mobile app, AR tools and excellent product descriptions and visuals make it engaging and easy for consumers to purchase.”
This is backed up by Richard Lim, Chief Executive, Retail Economics: “A forensic understanding of its core customer based continues to deliver deeper and more meaningful engagement which is enhancing loyalty and lifetime value, evidenced by more than one billion website visits in the first half.”
Lim continues: “Looking forward, intense capital investment is planned to further improve distribution and logistics, essential in retaining the loyalty of digitally-savvy 20-somethings whose expectations grow ever-more demanding.”
However, says Maltman, “The brands that sell through ASOS have nothing to worry about, but they definitely need to spend time evaluating product performance across other retail partners. Unfortunately, the tendency for those retailers that also have a high-street presence is to spend time and effort perfecting the in-store experience, only to create a basic shopping experience online. Aside from the obvious financial connotations that physical locations present, this also explains why they might not perform as well as online-only retailers like ASOS.”
