Value Proposition

ASOS is the ultimate online fashion destination, providing customers with a variety of unique brands, diverse styles, and exclusive merchandise to ensure consumers across the globe have access to the latest fashion and trends.

Positioning

 

 The ASOS website creates a distinct image for this online retailer, positioning the brand in the mind of the consumer.  As an online fashion destination with a global audience, viewers are immediately directed to the site that corresponds to their current geographic location when logging on, ensuring that they are serviced with sizing and pricing specific to their region.  The aesthetic environment created by ASOS appeals to the customer visually, highlighting merchandise and images against a stark white background.  When initially logging onto the site, the consumer is met with an editorial aesthetic, as large images fill the screen with limited text.  When shopping through the actual merchandise, a simple site layout allows the products to shine, as they are highlighted by the contrasting page color.  This creates a site that is easily navigated by consumers.  Detailed product images as well as video are featured for individual products to enhance the interaction and digitalization of the site.  This creates a shopping experience tailored to the online consumer.  Extensive product offerings and unique brands make ASOS a distinctive online shopping destination for a global audience. 

Merchandise Assortment:

ASOS has successfully differentiated itself from its top competitors, both in the world of e-commerce and brick and mortar stores, by fulfilling a distinct consumer need for variety and exclusivity with their site.  As ASOS exists solely online, they are able to feature a vast selection of brands and designers from around the globe, presenting consumers with unique and diverse merchandise.  ASOS features a variety of products including men’s and women’s clothing, accessories, and footwear as well as beauty products.  Additionally, they feature a maternity, petite, and plus size colleciton.  Prices range from $5 for private label goods to upwards of $600 for designer merchandise. A diverse array of brands compose the more than 850 labels sold on ASOS, including designer labels, high street labels, and the ASOS collection.  Some of these brands include:

Brick and Mortar Comparison: 

Competing brick and mortar retailers, such as Topshop, are limited by the physical selling space in their stores.  This creates an assortment that lacks variety and diversity, limiting the consumer’s choices. The merchandise assortment at Topshop features mainly private label merchandise, with product categories including men’s and women’s apparel, footwear, accessories and makeup.  Additionally, Topshop features a small selection of branded concessions, including Office and Lloyds footwear.  Topshop has collaborated with designers throughout the industry, such as J.W. Anderson and Mary Katrantzou, to feature limited edition capsule collections for the retailer.  Prices at Topshop range from $15 for a basic jersey tee to upwards of $300 for exclusive dresses and leather products.  The Topshop website features merchandise displayed on a contrasting white background.  The site lacks interactivity, as flat images are presented for each product with limited zoom options and no video footage.  Additionally, the site features edited trends from company insiders that display the latest fashions of the season. 

ASOS  has differentiated itself from this competition by presenting consumers with options, featuring a variety of product categories, price points, and brands.  Through their customer friendly and interactive site, they have positioned themselves clearly in the mind of the consumer and, as their logo states, allowed a global audience to discover fashion online through their distinctive site.

Multichannel Marketing:

ASOS maintains a blog, a monthly magazine, and communicates with consumers through a variety of social media platforms including:

Facebook

 Twitter

Google+

Instagram

 Pinterest 

Tumblr

YouTube

The ASOS  YouTube channel features videos that contain both compelling content as well as shoppable elements, where the viewer can click on a pop-up image to purchase items featured in the video.  

SWOT Analysis

Internal Strengths:

Merchandising:

• Features an exclusive and diverse array of brands.
• Features a unique variety of product categories, including men’s and women’s clothing, accessories, and footwear as well as makeup.
• Maintains innovative ways to display merchandise to customers and interactive ways to shop, including customer created looks, company edited fashion trends, and the ASOS marketplace.
• ASOS offers free shipping as well as free returns to its global customer base.

Marketing:

• ASOS maintains a blog on its website that features content on a variety of popular areas including music, movies, celebrity styles, and the latest fashion trends.
• A monthly ASOS magazine is produced, giving customers an editorial view of the ASOS merchandise and brand.
• ASOS connects with its customers through social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Youtube, and Google+.   

Financial:

• ASOS is experiencing international expansion and growth.  Sales outside of the UK grew by 64% to £332.6 million.  Additionally, the company experienced a 91% growth in the US.   International business now accounts for 59% of total sales.
• ASOS is on track to achieve sales of $1.13 billion, resulting in $77 million of profit.

Management/Operational:

• New international supply chain platform, Allport, increases visibility and cooperation across ASOS’ international supply chain.
• ASOS employs knowledgeable, passionate employees that ensure the brand is continuously innovating and growing. 

Internal Weaknesses:

Merchandising:

• As ASOS is online only, customers do not have the option of trying on  or feeling the clothing prior to purchase.
• To turn into a strength: ASOS should feature digital ways for consumer to interact with their merchandise, such as the runway videos they feature.  They could implement a more advanced zoom feature, such as the one utilized by Burberry, to give customers a more accurate image of merchandise.

Marketing:

• ASOS does not advertise on any marketing platform.
• To turn into a strength: ASOS can begin to feature advertisements in publications that appeal to its target market, such as Nylon, Glamour, and Marie Claire.  Additionally, they can feature advertisements on blogs targeted to their consumers. 

Financial:

• The free shipping service provided by ASOS costs the company 100 million pounds on an annual basis.
• To turn into a strength: Improve logistics to streamline the shipping process, cutting down on costs and creating a more efficient delivery system. 
• Around 30% of purchases are returned to the company, resulting in additionally shipping charges for ASOS.
• To turn into a strength: Through improved logistics, ASOS can cut down on the cost of returns, and continue to provide its customers with this service.  Additionally, they can continue to improve the digitalization of the site, to give customers a more accurate image of items prior to purchase.

Management/Operational:

• ASOS produces its merchandise in five contitnents, causing logisitical as well as costing difficulties.
• To turn into a strength: ASOS can continue to improve their logistics as well as their supply chain, to create a more efficient and effective system.

External Opportunities:

Economic:

• Consumers are willing to spend more money on unique products, which is advantageous to the diverse, exclusive brands features at ASOS.

Consumer Trends:

• Consumers continue to make more purchases from mobile platforms, including phones and tablets.

Industry Trends:

• Retailers continue to innovate with mobile platforms and applications where shoppers can view their merchandise through the convenience of a phone or tablet.
• Globalization is expanding the reach of retailers, as they are able to connect with consumers across the globe and grow their businesses.

Competitors:

• Competitors feature a limited assortment in their merchandise, lacking the diversity and exclusivity that ASOS creates with their brands. 

External Threats:

Economic:

• Uncertain economic times means consumers have less money to spend and are careful regarding where and how they spend their money.
• To turn into an opportunity: ASOS offers consumers free shipping and returns, which cuts down on the cost of purchasing from the site.   Additionally, they can continue to expand their private label offerings, which are featured at a lower price point, appealing to consumers that have less money to spend.

Consumer Trends:

• An emphasis is placed on the consumer’s experience in-store while they interact with sales staff and the merchandise.
• To turn into a strength: ASOS can continue to make their site more interactive to enhance the consumer experience on their site.

Industry Trends:

• Many retailers are entering the market, featuring only e-commerce platforms to sell their merchandise:
• To turn into an opportunity: ASOS must continue to differentiate their site through their unique assortment of products and brands as well as the consumer experience on their site.

Competitors:

• Many retailers feature an e-commerce site in addition to their brick and mortar stores, giving the consumer the option of how to shop as well as the ability to feel and try on merchandise prior to purchase.
• To turn into an opportunity: ASOS can continue to enhance the interactive aspects of their site, to differentiate from the competition online. Additionally, enhanced digitalization will improve the customer’s ability to interact with the merchandise.  Continuing the free returns service will enable consumers to purchase online without worrying about the cost implication of they change their mind about an item.
• Larger retailers existing in both digital and physical form may have more brand recognition than ASOS, as they gain consumers through foot traffic as well as their online platform.
• To turn into an opportunity: ASOS must continue to differentiate their site, to draw consumers to their online platform.  Additionally, through partnerships and advertisements on blogs and publications, ASOS can continue to drive more traffic to their site. 

Characteristics of the Site

Addressability and Memory:

When users click on to the ASOS site, they are immediately redirected to the site that corresponds to their geographic location, providing them with accurate pricing and sizing based on their region.  When an ASOS member clicks onto the site, they are immediately addressed by name and logged into their personal account.  In addition to this, the site utilizes its customer database to present shoppers with personalized ads that address their individual needs.  One example of this is seen through the promotion of a student discount, appearing after logging onto the site.

Interactivity:

The ASOS site creates an interactive experience for its customers in numerous ways.

The runway views of the looks, featured with every garment, not only add an interactive element to the site, but also allow consumers to visualize how the garment looks on a moving body.  As ASOS exists solely online, this essential feature enables shoppers to interact with the merchandise through the web.

OUTFITS & LOOKS

The ASOS site features an "Outfits and Looks" tab, curating an assortment of the latest trends for customers to shop.  Viewers can click through the featured fashions and be brought directly to the item page, allowing them to view the product details as well as purchase the item.  

 

MEMBER CREATED LOOKS
ASOS creates an online community of its users, allowing them to not only interact with the merchandise on the site, but also with each other.  Members create unique fashion looks and mood boards which can be viewed by other community members.  Viewers can click on all items featured in the looks to be brought directly to that item page.  There is also a live community feed, which updates, in real time, items that members are posting to their looks or adding to their favorites.  This promotes interaction between ASOS customers, allowing them to be inspired and influenced by the ASOS community.

CONTROL:

ASOS lets the consumer control how they want to shop for merchandise, browsing through entire product categories, shopping curated fashion edits, or going directly to their desired item.  Merchandise can be refined by nearly every aspect of the garment including size, price, color, style, etc.  This level of control is even extended to ASOS’ mobile platform, as the customer is still able to narrow down their search based on many variables via their preferred mobile device.

ACCESSIBIITY:

Information regarding privacy and cookies, terms and conditions, corporate social responsibility, and the history of the company is readily available on the site.  ASOS is proactive in their goal to prevent fraudulent activities on their site, providing shoppers with technical, administrative, and physical security. Listed under the site’s terms and conditions, ASOS states that legal action may be taken against any visitor that participates or facilitates fraudulent activities.  Additionally, ASOS is secured by Comodo, which guarantees the highest level of security during online transactions. 

Digitalization:  

 As ASOS exists solely online, it utilizes the technological aspects of the site, such as its quick download speeds and connectivity, to give the retailer a competitive edge.  In fact, Compete.com lists ASOS as first among its list of top competitors online.  As online consumers become increasingly impatient, slow download times can cause consumers to click away from a page, thus resulting in a missed sale.  It is essential for ASOS to avoid issues such as this, as the site is the only method for consumers to purchase from the retailer.  In addition to this, ASOS provides extremely clear images of their merchandise, enabling shoppers to zoom to see product details.  Video footage of products is provided as well, to give the customer a more accurate idea of how the products will look.  As consumers lack the option to go into the store to try on a garment, they must rely on what the site presents to them to decide if they will purchase an item.  ASOS has ensured that consumers can visualize the merchandise as well as possible without physically seeing or touching an item in person.

The digitalization of the ASOS mobile platform was lacking, as download speeds were slow and the images lacked the clarity presented on the site.

Supply Chain

“Online-only retailers have caused a revolution in the supply-chain business, pushing up standards in order to keep customers coming back.” - Nick Robertson, ASOS.com, CEO

As ASOS does not run a brick and mortar location, the entire success of the organization relies on the successful fulfillment of orders.  This is centered upon effective SCM, supply chain management. ASOS produces merchandise on five continents and ships goods to customers located across the globe.  In order to maintain successful Customer Relationship Management, ASOS must run an effective and efficient supply chain.  All merchandise is stored in ASOS’ distribution center, located in a warehouse in Yorkshire town that is the size of 6 football fields.  ASOS has recently hired the supply chain specialists Allport to manage their international supply chain and logistics, as well as beginning to utilize the company’s LIMA software.  This aids in CPFR, as it increases visibility and cooperation across ASOS’ international supply chain.

ASOS has created brand awareness on a global scale, and must be prepared to fulfill orders placed from countries throughout the world. As they target a youthful customer with a limited budget, it is crucial to offer free shipping and returns on a global scale.  ASOS is acutely aware of its customers' behaviors and attitudes, acknowledging that the extra cost of shipping will deter many customers from purchasing merchandise.  In addition, the site offers free returns, to ease the hesitation consumers may have towards not being able to try on items at a physical location.