ASOS Profit News Reveals Ongoing Growth for Online

Online fashion etailer ASOS has revealed its sales were up 18% to £1.17bn while group revenue jumped 19% to £3.26bn. The latest figures reflect consumer shopping habits during and after lockdown, as well as the company’s astute restructuring to ‘drive greater efficiency’ across the business.

Comfortable athleisure, sportswear and skincare proved to be the top selling items with its core twentysomething customers. Up to 31 August ASOS has added 3 million more shoppers to its active customer base, taking the total to 23.4 million,

Zach Thomann, Executive Vice President & General Manager at PFS, comments: “ASOS’ three million new customers and soaring profits are an illustration of just how significantly shopping habits have been altered by the pandemic. PFS’ research found that during the first lockdown, over half (53%) of shoppers said they made more online purchases.

“Interestingly, as many as 77% of the shoppers said they plan to continue purchasing more online once the pandemic is over, signalling a permanent change in their behaviour. But it’s not all plain sailing for online retailers. Further PFS research has also found that a new ‘conscious consumer’, more aware of the environmental impact of their purchases, has emerged from the pandemic. Over a third (37%) of shoppers say they are now more conscious of the environmental impact their online shopping habits have, while nearly three-quarters of consumers expect online retailers and brands to use recyclable packaging (73%) or minimise their use of packaging (74%).

“For struggling brick-and-mortar retailers, looking at innovative ways to add value such as BOPIS (buy online pick up in store), can keep customers coming in store, merge the online and offline experience, and better enable social distancing.”

Alongside UK profits international sales for ASOS increased by 20% to £1.9bn, driven by a 50% rise in sales of casualwear. Chief executive, Nick Beighton stated that ‘the company’s response to Covid-19 and its ability to engage, respond and adapt’ has ensured profit success during an extremely difficult retail period.

Jenny Holloway, CEO of Fashion-Enter (UK supplier to ASOS) adds: “ASOS has always centred on ‘Fashion with Integrity’ and it’s great to see these figures of a 18% increase in the year to 31 August. Consumers now want to see the integrity of sustainability and ethical production in their garment purchases.  ASOS have been ahead of the curve and now the rest of the retailers and etailers are catching up on the importance of transparency.  This should also reflect an even bigger potential for the great ‘Made in the UK’ label for other ethical manufacturers too.”  

ASOS acknowledge their success but remain cautious with a possible no-deal end to Brexit come January, backlogs in supply chains and disposable incomes (particularly in the 18 – 30 age bracket) being hard hit by the current Covid-19 crisis.

The brand recently introduced the ‘Responsible Edit’ to its range that includes pieces made from recycled or sustainable materials. ASOS also plan to introduce a lower-priced own label line, ‘AsYou’, which will be made at approved factories based in the UK.