Profile of Asos: a fast growing online clothing retailer
INTRODUCTION
Employees and culture
Sourcing
Websites and customers
Geographical markets
Growth of online retailing
ONLINE APPAREL RETAIL MARKET
COMPANY DEVELOPMENT
Website visits and customers
Employees
Products
PRODUCTS
Product range
Products for women
Products for men
Design and pattern cutting
Environmental sustainability
SOURCING
TECHNOLOGY
Investment in information technology (IT)
Fulfilment facilities
Customer service
Marketing
Artificial intelligence
Style Match visual search technology
Finance, merchandising and planning systems
STRATEGY
Areas for growth
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Environmental policy
Ethical trade strategy
Impact of Asos’s business on the environment
Customer deliveries
Buildings
Packaging
FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE
OUTLOOK
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Online and overall apparel retail sales by region, 2017
Table 2: Asos: financial summary, 2012/13-1st half 2017/18
Table 3: Asos: retail sales by geographical region, 2015/16-1st half 2017/18
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Asos: breakdown of carbon footprint by operations, 2016/17
Employees and culture
Sourcing
Websites and customers
Geographical markets
Growth of online retailing
ONLINE APPAREL RETAIL MARKET
COMPANY DEVELOPMENT
Website visits and customers
Employees
Products
PRODUCTS
Product range
Products for women
Products for men
Design and pattern cutting
Environmental sustainability
SOURCING
TECHNOLOGY
Investment in information technology (IT)
Fulfilment facilities
Customer service
Marketing
Artificial intelligence
Style Match visual search technology
Finance, merchandising and planning systems
STRATEGY
Areas for growth
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Environmental policy
Ethical trade strategy
Impact of Asos’s business on the environment
Customer deliveries
Buildings
Packaging
FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE
OUTLOOK
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Online and overall apparel retail sales by region, 2017
Table 2: Asos: financial summary, 2012/13-1st half 2017/18
Table 3: Asos: retail sales by geographical region, 2015/16-1st half 2017/18
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Asos: breakdown of carbon footprint by operations, 2016/17
Asos, based in the UK, is a leading online retailer of clothing, footwear, accessories, beauty products and grooming products. The company has achieved significant growth since its establishment in 1999, and it now operates eight local language sites, as well as offices and distribution facilities in various locations around the world. Asos has benefited hugely from the trend of rapid growth in sales through online retailing, and the company boasts 16.5 mn active customers worldwide. Furthermore, its websites attract hundreds of millions of visits per month. The company is committed to offering its customers the very latest fashion products by stocking its own brands and third party brands, and it launches 5,000 new styles each week. Also, the company is dedicated to providing its customers with the best online retail experience, and is exploring the use of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) in order to achieve this. This report explores the development of Asos as it has capitalised on the growth of online retailing and worked to satisfy consumer demand for fast fashion products. Furthermore, it discusses Asos's business strategy, corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies and achievements, financial performance, products, sourcing operations and technologies, and it provides an outlook for the future.
