Gone are the days where you would be trailing around your local shopping centre with achy legs searching for the perfect outfit. Online shopping is quickly taking over the lives of consumers for three main reasons: it's fast, convenient and in some cases, much cheaper than what's in-store. The fashion industry is no exception, with ASOS having become one of the most popular online retailers purely because they can keep up with the demands of consumers without compromising on quality.
Who are ASOS?
- They are a British online retailer.
- The acronym stands for "As Seen On Screen'.
- ASOS specialises in all things fashion and beauty related for both men and women.
Founded in the year 2000, ASOS were relatively unknown until a couple of years ago. With no physical store, the company had to work extra hard at their digital communication in order to target consumers. They were already facing stiff competition from the likes of Boohoo and Missguided who were running similar businesses.
In order to adapt themselves in the industry, ASOS had to create an online presence that would equally reflect their online store and their brand values.
How did they do it? ASOS are a strong advocate of the multi-channel approach. With their primary target market being young adults, ASOS had to engage the audience on a platform that would help them connect with everyone - that platform being social media. You name it, they're on it! Multiple accounts have been created to deal with different purposes, such as MensWear and Customer Service. Their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and even Snapchat accounts are updated frequently with new content and the latest releases. Interestingly, ASOS only acknowledge positive press about the company. This could suggest that they don't want their customers to become aware of the negative aspects as it may affect their buying behaviour.
More recently, ASOS have introduced "Insiders" on their Instagram account. ASOS Insiders are a group of influencers that have a large following online. Unlike other online fashion retailers, ASOS choose to recruit influencers rather than bloggers to represent the company. This strategy is effective as influencers are seen to be more credible than bloggers. The influencers maintain their own individual styles whilst being able to inspire the audience with products from ASOS in a subtle way.
The company's success is partially owed to the time and money invested in how they portray themselves online as well as how they try to interact and understand the wants and needs of the consumer. The impact of this relationship with the consumer has enabled ASOS to utilise their Search Engine Optimisation across all their digital platforms. Easily searchable keywords have allowed ASOS to maintain their position as one of the top three organic searches on Google's Search Engine Result's Page - this gives an indication as to how much much traffic is being directed to the actual website alone.
The need for "fast fashion" is critical in this industry and ASOS's strategy is to "fundamentally change the way customers live and shop for fashion on mobile." In order to do this, ASOS created a campaign using the hashtag #AsSeenOnMe. The hashtag is most commonly used amongst bloggers and normal everyday people on Instagram whereby the audience are able to share their latest purchases. This user-generated content combined with commerce enables the customer to easily "shop the look" making the buying process much easier.
These days there's an app for everything, so it was no surprise when ASOS also introduced one. It was downloaded 3.2 million times in the first half of the year according to The Drum, (2016) and the company has seen 51% of sales take place on a mobile device. The app uses in-app push notifications to alert the customer about the start and end of sale events whilst on the go. It is an effective strategy and is almost "exclusive" for users of the app in the sense that you are made aware of the promotion almost immediately as opposed to relying on manually visiting the website to see what offers are on.
Using information from both the website and the app, ASOS are able to build a profile around their most frequent customers. By analysing the consumer's search habits, ASOS are able to understand that individual's buying behaviour including variables such as style and trends. This information is then collected and as a result, ASOS can suggest similar items that the customer may also be interested in purchasing.
All of these factors have contributed to the success of the company. ASOS depend on digital communication in order to keep on top of a growing online market. It is a competitive industry that will continue to develop and expand in years to come. ASOS are ahead of the game for one particular reason and that is down to how they've established themselves on their digital platforms. ASOS have focused on maintaining a strong identity by staying active whilst maintaining a functional yet engaging service.
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