When ASOS first started out in 2000 as a small online store specialising in celebrity fashion, they were making an annual profit of £1.7m. 16 years later, they've become the UK's leading online retailer, sell over 65,000 branded and own-branded fashion items and made a profit of £47.5m in August 2015.
How have ASOS managed this? More importantly, how has a relatively young, online-only retailer managed to create such a strong sense of loyalty to their brand - something many of their older competitors struggle to do?
As a company that lacks a physical store, ASOS focuses the majority of their advertising and marketing tactics on social media, and make sure that they really know their core audience. To summarise, they target their customers (the ambitious, fashion conscious 18-34 year old male/female) where they are most likely going to be found - on the various social channels that exist today. ASOS knows that young people in the 21st century are highly dependent and easily influenced by digital media that they can access any time and anywhere. They use this knowledge to gain customers and build brand loyalty.
In 2012, ASOS launched a campaign, #BestNightEver, to promote their Christmas party wear collection. The campaign, which spanned eight weeks, was innovative, highly interactive and totally focused on social media. Drawing from the knowledge that their consumers are tech-savvy and always hungry for accessible inspiration, the brand created 15 social features that were optimised for six different social channels - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Youtube and Google+ hangout - so the consumer could access the campaign's content on the platform of their choice. This spread across social media increased ASOS's social footprint and the likelihood of consumers visiting their website. Unsurprisingly, the campaign was a success.
It's not just their carefully designed social media campaigns that help them gain and retain customers. Their actions and language on social media help customers to identify with them. ASOS responds to nearly every customer comment, whether it's a complaint or query or merely someone who's excited about a purchase. Their tone is colloquial - they talk like the twenty-something fans who purchase from them, and this helps consumers connect to the brand.
Because ASOS listens to their customers, they come back. The retailer doesn't have shop assistants who can represent them, they have helpful, fashion-savvy individuals manning their social channels instead. These individuals and the interactiveness and innovative nature of social campaigns help the consumer feel pampered and included - thus persuading them to return. And from there on, loyalty develops. It's no wonder the online retailer's ruling the social landscape. What's next on the agenda, ASOS?
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