Thursday, 30 April 2015

Who is My Customer?

This section will cover who my target customer is.

Two Groups:

ASOS Online:

The Festival Customer:
There are 450 in the UK alone this year and more people are going to them than ever before, says Virtual Festivals UK.
"Young people like festivals to experience the freedom of youth and their own new music

http://www.themarketer.co.uk/analysis/features/generation-y-what-every-marketer-needs-to-know/

Style tribes

Missguided

http://blog.missguided.co.uk/fashion/festival-style-tribes/

Monday, 27 April 2015

Asos Brand Report Research

ASOS and Boots trial partnership – a step in the right direction

ASOS is teaming up with Boots to trial a service which will allow customers to pick up their orders from six selected Boots stores in London until April 2015. While a step in the right direction, it is unlikely that ASOS will achieve much traction from this trial considering it reaches only a small catchment of consumers local to the six stores. However, with convenience increasing in importance and more clothing retailers offering services such as click & collect, it is vital that ASOS continues to look for new ways of reaching its customers.

By Verdict

21 January 2015

http://www.verdictretail.com/asos-and-boots-trial-partnership-a-step-in-the-right-direction/

Value clothing retailers play online catch up

With much of the 24.9% growth in the UK value clothing market in the five years to 2014 driven by new store openings, the focus and investment in online has been far behind that of the midmarket and premium clothing players. In 2014, just 9.8% of all spend on value clothing will come from online, providing huge growth opportunities for the next five years.

To compete with midmarket and premium rivals such as ASOS and Next, value retailers must shift their websites from being selling platforms to engagement platforms. Investing in editorial content, improved page layout and photography, social media integration and personal style advice would improve customer loyalty – typically lower at value retailers – and encourage outfit building. This would increase volumes and drive up basket size, which is crucial for value retailers to make the channel profitable given their lower retail prices.

By Verdict

8 May 2014

http://www.verdictretail.com/value-clothing-retailers-play-online-catch-up/

ASOS | Verdict Company Briefing

ASOS's strategy to invest in lowering prices in 2012 has served it well, and it is opting to launch a value range, Style Steal. While this is preferable to repeating price decreases, it would be better to invest in showcasing the value for money that shoppers can benefit from through its existing ranges, as it now risks shoppers trading down.

One of ASOS's core strategies is to become a destination store for young fashion shoppers and the development of its Fashion Finder offer, its Marketplace and its magazine app is helping to cultivate this status. By presenting the latest trends to its customers, it is generating top-of-mind awareness among its customers - helping to drive traffic.

Published by

Verdict

Published on

30 May 2013

http://www.datamonitor.com/store/Product/?productid=CM00206-028

Asos half-year profits fall but sales rise boosts share price

Wednesday 1 April 2015 09.39 BST

Angela Monaghan

Price cutting and investments cut profits at online fashion retailer but markets greet news of increased sales with jump in share price

Price cuts and investment in its international business drove down profits at online fashion retailer Asos in the first six months of the year.

A record Christmas trading period, when sales increased by 14%, was not enough to lift profits for the first half overall.

Pre-tax profit fell to £18m in the six months to end-February, from £20m over the same period a year earlier. Revenue rose 14% to £550m.

It follows a torrid time for the retailer, whose ranges are targeted at “fashion-conscious twentysomethings”. Last year, Asos suffered a fire at its main warehouse in Barnsley, South Yorkshire and issued a series of profit warnings, while adverse currency movements hit international sales.

Asos sells its own brands as well as third-party brands and high street names such as Mango, French Connection and River Island.

Among its bestsellers in the first half were playsuits and jumpsuits, shirts, trainers, oversized coats and scarves. “We increased our gifting range with a more extensive selection of beauty, men’s grooming, novelty gifts and also more traditional items such as nightwear,” the company said.

“In addition, events such as Halloween and Valentine’s Day are becoming increasingly important to our customers and we have responded by adding specific ranges for these celebrations.”

UK sales jumped 27% over the first half, while international sales increased by 5%.

Nick Robertson, the chief executive who co-founded Asos in 2000, sold about £20m of shares in the company in January, amounting to about 10% of his holding. It left him with an 8% stake, making him the company’s second-largest shareholder.

“With our continued investment in our international price competitiveness gaining traction, momentum in the business is building. This gives us confidence in the outlook for the second half and that full-year profit and margin will be in line with expectations,” Robertson said.

The shares jumped nearly 7% in early trading before ending the day 2.7% higher at £37.28.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/apr/01/asos-half-year-profits-fall-but-sales-rise-boosts-share-price

Asos tightens focus on digital natives with Vevo partnership

by Shona Ghosh, 08.04.2015

Asos is pushing further into music, signing a partnership with music video service Vevo on its DSCVR platform.

Vevo's DSCVR franchise focuses on emerging artists, with Asos set to host behind-the-scenes styling videos and interviews on its own YouTube channel.

Videos uploaded to the DSCVR YouTube channel also now feature links to Asos, allowing viewers to 'buy the look'.

The partnership launches today, with upcoming acts including George the Poet and Vaults. Other up-and-coming acts have included Hozier and Sam Smith.

Vevo's UK sales director, James Cornish, said: "We are thrilled to be working with ASOS as the first ever brand partner for Vevo DSCVR.

Given the two brands' commitment to, and love of, pioneering new music and emerging talent this is a perfect collaboration."

http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/article/1341831/asos-tightens-focus-digital-natives-vevo-partnership

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LOMBARD

April 1, 2015 8:09 pm

Asos faces margin pressure as online fashion becomes less forgiving

Alison Smith

High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5a5da07c-d880-11e4-8a23-00144feab7de.html#ixzz3YVP7msQL

t was originally “As Seen On Screen”. But in the past year Asos could have stood for “Airborne Stock Only Sometimes”. Three profit warnings have buffeted a share price that once seemed to have adopted “onwards and upwards” as its motto. Yet even with that recent history, there is a fan base for the purveyor of fashion to twenty-somethings: first-half pre-tax profit just £1.7m ahead of consensus expectations at £18m prompted a positive share price reaction.

While sales were up, the retail gross margin was down 270bp to 46.8 per cent. The group expects to hold the full-year drop to 100bp and then keep it at the same level next year, as it holds down costs and improves distribution.

M

Asos is also relying on an increase in volumes of 15-20 per cent this year to enable it to strike better deals all around. Even so, the continuing need to invest in distribution in continental Europe and the US will mean that the improvement will probably be “stop, start” rather than unbroken progress.

Meanwhile, online fashion is changing. Some analysts saw this week’s plan for an all-share merger between luxury ecommerce operations Yoox and Net-a-Porter as a defensive deal. Many serious brands are taking more control of their online operations to ensure that their pricing and image are less vulnerable to discounting on third-party sites.

On the high street websites too, brands are improving their own online businesses. Asos says fashion brands selling through third parties as well as their own outlets is nothing new — just think department stores. That does not quite work as an argument for investing in the group. First, a wider choice of third-party sites, such as Next’s Labels operation, is becoming available. Second, once you have chosen a potential purchase on a third-party site, it is hardly any effort to click on the branded site to see if it is available more cheaply or even more desirably there. Third, the UK department store model exemplified by Debenhams and House of Fraser has hardly been a beacon of consistent investment excellence.

So even as Asos can claim that profit warnings are last year’s fad, it is operating in a tougher environment. At Wednesday’s close of £37.35 it is trading on a 2015 p/e ratios of about 80 times. This looks far racier — and far less appealing — than the outfits it sells.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5a5da07c-d880-11e4-8a23-00144feab7de.html#axzz3YVOdTHqK

Asos partners with Paralympics GB to create formalwear for Rio 2016

23 April, 2015 | By Caroline Baldwin

Asos has partnered with the British Paralympic Association (BPA) to design formal and ceremony wear for the Paralympics GB athletes at Rio 2016.

The etailer will design and create a capsule collection for the team to wear at the opening ceremony of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

Asos and athletes including Will Bayley, Jordanne Whiley, Sam Ruddock and Lauren Steadman are in the process of sharing ideas and exchanging feedback on designs.

Asos said its design team will use their “expertise in celebrating individuality whilst designing for a range of body types to create the team’s formalwear.”

The fashion line will be worn by 250 to 300 selected athletes, plus support staff, on official Paralympics GB business, including team appearances at events such as the opening and closing ceremonies in Rio.

Asos boss Nick Robertson said: “We are proud to be the formalwear supplier for the Paralympics GB team. We are excited at the opportunity to showcase the very best of our design house by creating a fashionable moment for the team. At Asos we believe fashion is democratic and what better platform to celebrate than this?”

Tim Hollingsworth, chief executive of the BPA, added: “Working with Asos, we have an opportunity to take a fresh look at our approach to formalwear for Rio over the next 500 days, and develop fashionable, stylish designs unique to Paralympics GB.”

http://www.retail-week.com/sectors/fashion/asos-partners-with-paralympics-gb-to-create-formalwear-for-rio-2016/5074288.article

Asos’s Top-Line Leaves Problems Beneath

THAO HUA

April 1, 2015 1:37 p.m. ET

Asos is back in fashion, but the company may struggle to maintain its style.

Following an excruciating year in which the company reeled from a string of profit warnings and suffered an inferno that destroyed its largest warehouse, the U.K. online fashion retailer is back on track.

Shares in Asos rose 3% on better-than-expected results Wednesday. In particular, group revenues grew by 14%, with the U.K. and the U.S. contributing gains of 27% and 17% gain, respectively. The number of active customers and the number of orders both increased by more than one-tenth, and the average order value rose 7% to £67 ($99).

That is a welcome return to form for the once-feted company. Asos has also been addressing its growing pains. It has had to take costly steps to lower prices and invest in new technology and its distribution network, which until recently was centered in the U.K. Following last year’s fire, the company now delivers about 25% of global orders from its U.S. warehouse and about the same amount from its German hub.

ENLARGE

After a hit last year from pricing its wares in sterling, and translating that price into various currencies around the globe, Asos has also rolled out zonal pricing to stay more competitive locally. International sales accelerated 19% in the six weeks ended March 31 compared with 5% in the previous six-week period, J.P. Morgan estimated.

But while lowering prices overseas is reversing Asos’s slowing sales trend, it is hurting profitability. Operating margins have taken a hit, expected to be about 4% this fiscal year from 7% two years earlier. The company has been able to temper some of the impact by cutting certain operating costs such as marketing, but will need to do more to boost margins.

Competing on price to fuel growth may also leave Asos limited scope to react as more competition enters the fray. Germany’s Zalando is encroaching on Asos’s domestic market by expanding in the U.K. Amazon is also investing more in fashion retail.

Yet the company’s valuation smacks of haute couture. Asos is trading at 75 times forward earnings, or twice its 10-year historical average. Asos has done well in righting last year’s mishaps. But with margins under pressure and competitors circling, investors who have enjoyed the cut of its recovery may now be tempted to click elsewhere.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/asoss-top-line-leaves-problems-beneath-heard-on-the-street-1427909862

Asos focus falls in its core twentysomethings adding more affordable fashion lines

04.02.15

UK-based online fashion retailer Asos is dropping higher end labels and focus more on more affordable, trend-driven styles for its core twenties customer.

CEO Nick Robertson said Wednesday he was keen to concentrate more closely on Asos' youthful followers.

That has led to the retailer dropping 180 brands over the past six months and added 150 more middle-market names including Abercrombie & Fitch, Sisley, adidas and Reebok.

"We used to sell quite a broad range of fashion - some at the low end, some towards the premium end," Robertson told The Times newspaper.

"We're narrowing our focus on that twentysomething group. Is your twentysomething going to be spending £500 on a dress? Probably not."

He was speaking as Asos reported pre-tax profit for the six months slipped 10% to £18m ($26.5m) on costs related to the introduction of its zonal pricing and investment in distribution capacity (WGSN News April 1) .

Asos shares also rose 3.3% to £37.48 Wednesday amid optimism from analysts and investors that the company is repairing the damage brought about by two profit warnings last year.

Robinson also said that customers in continental Europe, Australia and New Zealand were responding well to price cuts in local currency after the introduction of software enabling Asos to vary its prices around the world.

Robertson explained: "Until six months ago, the price of an Asos dress was the same price on all our websites around the world. That was fine when sterling was where it was, but over the past 12 months sterling strengthened, and that meant the prices of our dresses were starting to look expensive to international customers.

"I wasn't able to change that, but now I can show different prices in different territories. It's hit margins and seen us, in Europe, reducing most of the prices and products by 10-12%, but it's protected us and needed to be fixed."

WHAT I AM DOING

http://www.wgsn.com/news/?p=1177406&h=true

Thursday, 23 April 2015

Marketing Research

targeted marketing on facebook for festival collection boohoo.

eye-catching photo, short and targeted message, use of emoji's; relate with customer , direct link to shop and buy.

one negative i would say is that none of the product on sale is displayed.

I saw this in New Look, Oxford Circus on a promotional night. I thought it was quite cool and that I could maybe use something similair in my pop-up shop. the tablets switched to different people, I could use pictures of Instagram of people with a certain # such as #asosfestival

This is a screenshot i took as I was watching a music video this ASOS advertisement popped up at the bottom and you can simply click on it to lead you to this new channel they have created.
I could do similar advertising with my festival pack and have it appear in any promotional videos of chosen festivals, music bands, and general fashion & beauty.

Link to the music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvHqbpQagjY
Link to the webpage the pop up leads to: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwTBfJVVh8CW3EEcyg89avUCrcJdmotQg&affid=14825

Wednesday, 22 April 2015

The Concept

ASOS Festival Pack Pop Up Shops
Range: Launch 9th April

'music festivals are actually al fresco fashion shows'

functionality- can be worn at festival
all your festival needs
commerciality- cheap prices people are already spending loads on festivals so cheap price points are key.

V-Fest

Reading/Leeds

Bestival

LoveBox

T-In the Park

I also have personal experience of all of these

Fashion presentation event invite only bloggers etc festival themed creates a. Hype

festival event massive promotion online and at event plus hair makeup etc experience profitable

Spoken word

New up and coming artists

Not camping

Smaller intimate

Screens showing clothes people can go on there phones and order

Competition for tickets?

Plus festival pop up at Glastonbury.... Anywhere else?

An exclusive to festivals and online spring/summer 16 range the whole festival package designed by???? Promoted by????

Expansion? Men's

Globally : coachella

More festivals

the personal stylists will attend event : have a large online following

order on the app and pick up

http://www.retail-week.com/multichannel/comment-festival-fashion-straight-to-your-tent/5039912.article

Moving on to omnichannel, Ancketill will examine how the concept has changed. It used to be about closing the circle between on and offline, but

now the circle is widening as routes to market evolve.

Online fashion retailer Very’s V Festival pop-up store is a perfect example of this widening circle. Revellers could browse and order from its bespoke

festival collection on their mobiles and pick purchases up within an hour. Orders from its wider range could be fulfilled by the next day.

Very’s festival pop-up shop

Shoppers without a smartphone could order from Very staff with iPads, and all customers were given access to Very ‘Glam Pods’ - complete with hair straighteners and other beauty products - to change in.

This section of Retail Week Live will also examine the rise of dual-screen viewing and the growth of 24-hour window shopping. Ancketill explains: “This will mean the ability to get a product from a window display or billboard on to a mobile so you can buy it.”

Questions to think about

What are the goals of this particular pop-up store?

Is it an extension of a brand, a store?

What makes this location better than another?

How temporary is this location?

Is this store preceding the opening of a permanent location?

What's the maximum that you're willing to spend to launch this location?

What are the hours of operation?

How are you staffing this location?

What do you need for city permits, electrical, plumbiing, fixtures, garbage service, security?

What will this store carry?

When do you need to order (or make) merchandise in order to open on time?

How soon can you replenish stock if you sell out early?

Do you need POS terminals? Bags? Stickers?

Do you need to setup banking accounts?

What would make this store successful?

How are you advertising this location?

Do you have the opportunity to make this into a permanent location?

Are their zoning restrictions limiting your hours or merchandise?

How does this play into your brand?

Is this store launching your brand?

not vintage already done.

have decided not to name my range and concept Ku-Chella as from asking around what people felt of the name they said the fact that it is so closely linked to Coachella might mean at the festivals in the UK people might think it is a bit irrelevant to the festival. I need to give my concept a more generic title rather then related to a specific festival.

online presence

http://www.wgsn.com/news/?p=1154051

This is H&M doing a similair thing in America

Tuesday, 21 April 2015

Magazine Research

Article 1

Brand Do's and Don'ts at a Festival

This is an article mainly expressing that festivals are an experience and as a brand trying to prosper in this new environment you have to remember the main reason the customer is here is to enjoy the music and lifestyle and the brand should adapt and work with this.

As I am doing Asos it is such a large brand that awareness of what it is, is already there. With Asos's large social media reach vast amount of shops I can easily advertise new concepts online and in store enabling the festival shops to then need less promotion.

http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/news/1300893/

Article 2

The Festival Opportunity

This Article explains the customer whom my concept should be aimed at and the opportunities there are to sell at festivals but what can be done wrong.The key thing it seems is that the brand doesn't get 'lost' within the excitement of the festival and there is still profit through success of promotion before and after.
Ideas for promotion:
bloggers/vloggers
youtube (e.g. UKF)
Crucial opportunities to sell:
Tickets released
Line-Ups announced

http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/articles/how-brands-can-avoid-the-festival-come-down/841

Article 3

'Participate in the pop-up trend

Mainly focusing on the promotion of music or awareness of a brand a lot of this article isnt too relevent to Retail. The key section that I am currently researching in more detail is specifically what i want todo, the pop up shop:

Harper’s Bazaar brought the ShopBazaar pop-up boutique to Coachella. Throughout the festival’s first weekend, the event took place in the Parker Palm Springs hotel. All purchases were made through ShopBazaar.com via MacBooks and iPads in the pop-up. Guests could walk away with new clothes to wear to the festival, while ShopBazaar benefited from new customer data and a showcase of its collection.'
There are also a few other examples of bigger brands partnering with festivals, for example Garnier Fructos

http://www.millennialmarketing.com/2014/01/marketing-at-music-festivals-playing-to-the-millennial-crowd/

Article 4

Australia Pops Up

This is probably one of the most relevent to my concept, Asos pop up shop in Australia, and sales acheived etc. This gives an idea of what would happen in the UK
'Participate in the pop-up trend