The online clothing business ASOS started life as “As Seen on Screen” in 2000. Its target audience was “twenty something” women who loved shopping and whose tastes moved between vintage, luxury and second hand items rather than being fixed. Their customers were - and still are - very interested in keeping up with fashion trends particularly those items they see being worn by the rich and famous in the media. From the outset, ASOS provided reproductions of these clothes, having them produced rapidly and at affordable prices.

1. ASOS
The online clothing business ASOS started life as “As Seen on Screen” in 2000. Its
target audience was “twenty something” women who loved shopping and whose
tastes moved between vintage, luxury and second hand items rather than being fixed.
Their customers were - and still are - very interested in keeping up with fashion trends
particularly those items they see being worn by the rich and famous in the media.
From the outset, ASOS provided reproductions of these clothes, having them produced
rapidly and at affordable prices.
The brand quickly became recognisable and
eventually changed its name to ASOS. In the
years from 2005 to the present day, the business
has managed to double its revenue every year,
starting from £13.5million in 2005 to £553
million in 2012. In recent years, this has been
achieved at a time when other clothes retailers
have struggled to maintain revenue and most
have faced falling sales. Experts in the retail
clothing market expect that this trend for ASOS
will be maintained for the foreseeable future
both in the UK and overseas as the trend for
online clothes purchasing grows in the world
market.
Much of ASOS’ success has been achieved
whilst spending almost nothing on marketing
their brand; they became the top-selling retailer
in Australia within 5 years of launching without
any marketing outlay in the conventional media
areas like magazines and television. Instead, the
business’s success has been achieved through
the use of social network marketing. Last year,
the ASOS website had 1.4 million users and its
social media sites attract twice as many users as
any other retailers. ASOS has the highest number
of users in the UK, followed by Topshop.
Department chains, such as John Lewis and
Marks and Spencer have very low usage through
social networks, reflecting their older customer
profile and their shopping habits.
ASOS uses all the social media sites to market
its products, but Facebook is the one that is used
most frequently and successfully. Daily posts of
clothes and a range of other new products are
displayed on the site; these items are chosen
very carefully for their likely appeal to the ASOS
target customer. Potential consumers can look
at the items, post comments, ask questions and
correspond to others who have bought the items
to find out about the fit, the exact colour and the
value for money. In this way, consumers are able
to make informed decisions on purchases and
keep up-to-date with trends. At the same time,
information is spread throughout the whole online
community, drawing other consumers in when
they see positive feedback from those who have
purchased items. Twitter is also used and is
helpful in spreading comments from those who
have purchased ASOS items. Images and videos
are re-tweeted by consumers to friends who
might be interested in making purchases. ASOS
has also made successful use of Google+, a
social media site that has struggled to take off.
ASOS makes posts on Google+ twice a day,
introducing new and exclusive products that are
not shown on other social media sites.
ASOS’ successful use of social network marketing
has shown that expensive and risky spending on
advertising is not always needed in those areas
of the economy where the consumer demand
and the product range changes very quickly and
where it is important to keep up with fashion
trends. The use of social network marketing has
allowed ASOS to expand rapidly, not only in the
UK but also in countries like the USA and
Australia and to achieve turnover and profits
that have bucked the trend in other areas of the
clothing sector.
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