Retail Week Indicator 2018: Why Asos is cream of the crop

The etailer, founded in 2000, has grown up among the internet giants of Google (founded in 1998) and Facebook (founded in 2004) and has kept up with unrelenting pace of innovation. Just four years ago it was releasing around 100 tech updates a year. In the first four months of this year, it executed 700.

It’s this constant invention that keeps Asos ahead of a hungry ecommerce pack. The etailer is front of line when it comes to technologies including AI, AR and VR: it’s currently experimenting with AR to show what products look like on different body types, making it easier for customers to make purchasing decisions, trimming its returns costs and chiming with the growing body positivity movement.

It’s also pioneering visual search. In August 2017, it launched its ‘style match’ tool on the app, which allows potential customers to take or upload a photo of a product or outfit they like and find similar items within Asos’ massive product range.

This is particularly pertinent as social media platforms such as Instagram inspire product searches – and purchases – more and more.

That product range itself is impressive: Asos operates at the same dizzying pace in product as it does technology and adds around 5,000 new items to its site every week, each teamed with clear product imagery, informative descriptions and video. 

Nailing cross-channel without stores

It’s clear that Asos leads the market on digital innovation. But it has also managed to top a rank of multichannel retailers, whose store estates should allow them extra cross-channel functionality. 

Asos has no stores but has instead partnered with third-party logistics providers to ensure it has a market-leading delivery and returns proposition.

Its customer service is also on point: it has some of the fastest email and social media response times to customer queries, limiting any barrier that a lack of stores may bring.

When it comes to user experience online, Asos charts extremely well: it has one of the fastest page download speeds on both its mobile and desktop sites – crucial when customers are so prone to moving to another site if a page takes more than a blink of an eye to download.

The etailer also drives custom by making sure that its shopping journey is as frictionless as possible, ensuring its app mirrors its desktop site, including saved items and storing payment information.

It also boosts additional spend and dwell time by recommending complementary products, while its A-List loyalty scheme – an unusual initiative among fashion retailers – gives customers an incentive to shop regularly.