Sunday, November 21, 2010

The secret of Asos's success

While the luxury goods sector continues to grapple with the economic downturn, at least one fashion retailer is laughing all the way to the bank. Yesterday, the online boutique asos.com posted a 59 per cent rise in first-half profit which, even in boom time, would be impressive, but given the current climate is nothing short of miraculous. By contrast, and only last week, Next – Britain's second most successful retailer, warned that its customers will face a double-digit price rise, owing to the inflated costs of materials.

The secret of Asos's success lies at least in part in the sheer size of its operation and also, to give the powers that be there the respect they are due, in the company's ability to move quickly with the times. The Green Room, an area of the site dedicated "to brands with a social and environmental ethos" and including People Tree and Bassike, is a case in point.

When Asos was launched, in June 2000, its initial USP was to come up with copies of celebrity looks everywhere from the red carpet to the streets of LA. The name originally stood for As Seen On Screen, although it has since worked hard to shake that off. It was aimed squarely at A-lister-obsessed teenagers who could snap up the gold Burberry dress Sienna Miller wore to the Met Ball in New York, say, or the purple Miu Miu design that Lindsay Lohan chose for the MTV movie awards, for not much more than £20.

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