How retailer ASOS bucks all trends

It's hard to believe that Michelle Obama, Rihanna and Rita Ora share similar tastes in fashion, but all three women have been photographed wearing ASOS clothes.

They’re not the only ones, with some of the most chic women in the world clamouring to be on the cover of the ASOS magazine, and Vogue magazine calling it ‘couture on the high street’. This recent trend of celebrity endorsement is particularly ironic considering the brand’s origins. The brainchild of Nick Robertson, the website was created after a colleague told Robertson that when the TV show Friends first aired, thousands of viewers rang the production company, asking where they could buy the photo frame that hung on the back of Monica and Rachel’s door. Seeing a gap in the market, Robertson launched ‘As Seen on Screen’ in 2000, selling near perfect copies of outfits worn by celebrities on TV shows and movies.

Although the early years were somewhat difficult, Robertson, now the CEO of the company, believes the timing was perfect, saying that “Maybe we started a little early but by the time broadband took off in 2005/2006, we were up and running already.” With the help of its 40 employees, ASOS was attempting to re-brand, positioning itself as a sort of online fashion editor, choosing the best items from other retailers and grouping them, along with its own brand items, into categories according to the latest trends.

By 2010, the then women’s wear buying director, Caren Downie, said that ASOS had, ‘revolutionised the quality ... persuading customers to see us no longer as the cheap and cheerful copycat site, but their first destination for fashion’.

Today the company has over 2000 employees, and sells over 65,000 branded and own-brand goods. Shipping to almost every country in the world, there are nine local language websites, including the US, Russia and China. These sites get 21.3 million unique visitors every month, with 7.1 million active customers in 2013, a two million person increase on the year before. The company has just announced that their sales increased by 38% in the four months coming up to Christmas, resulting in their share price trebling to £5.8 billion. Their success is all the more noteworthy when one considers how slow many other high street retailers in the UK have been to recover from the recession. So what is it about ASOS that has The Times magazine declaring the company as the ‘undisputed champion of online shopping’?

Firstly, the clothes are fantastic. The website carries over 800 brands but it is testament to the brand that over half of sales come from their own collections. Within the ASOS umbrella there is something to suit everyone, from their trend-led ASOS collection, vintage apparel in ASOS Reclaimed, the eco-friendly ASOS Greenroom, and ASOS Africa which is produced in collaboration with a rural Kenya community. All sizes are catered for too, with ranges such as ASOS Curve, Maternity and Petite.

According to director of marketing agency Lock-In Marketing, Gemma Lovelock, the biggest reason for the brand’s success has been its digital platform. She says, ‘ASOS has always been ahead of the curve. Its key tools, from the iPhone and iPad app to its Facebook shop, English-language mobile site and Fashion Finder tool, aren’t just extensions of brand ASOS, they add to the online retail experience’. She argues that accessibility is key, especially for the technology-savvy, 20- something demographic ASOS is targeting. The website itself is also designed to accommodate a consumer base reared on social media. Shoppers can interact with the brand via Instagram, Facebook and Twitter in such a way that ASOS has become much more than a place to shop; it incorporates elements of style blogs with virtual mood boards highlighting the latest trends and ‘real girls’ styling their clothes, (all available online, of course), to brilliant effect. ASOS were also the first to launch an online catwalk in 2006, with 12 girl models hired every day, all dressed by the best of British stylists. Two thousand outfits are photographed each week, and it is this catwalk function that allows the customer to see how the outfit falls on the body. Since a big issue with online shopping is the inability to ‘touch and feel’, the company has ensured that returning unsuitable clothing is hassle-free. Coupled with free shipping and speed of delivery, the ASOS shopping experience can only be described as easy.

As for the future of the company, Robertson has said he wants to create even more of a ‘relevant shopping experience’ and sees more room for development internationally, as Europe is still the star performer. ‘There are some things that transcend borders better,’ he said, ‘and fashion is one of those’.