Retail woes go online as discounting hits Asos

Europe’s retail crisis is spreading from bricks-and-mortar stores to e-commerce as Asos plunged the most in over four years after warning that Christmas shopping has got off to a disastrous start.

The gloomy update from a UK online retailer that competes with Amazon shows that retail weakness is widespread. Asos fell around 40% in London, wiping more than £1.4bn (€1.55bn) off the market value.