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ASOS stretching its lead in online fashion retail

Published: 15:52 12 Jun 2018 BST

asos online site
ASOS has been investing in its online platform to give its customers the best possible experience

ASOS.com PLC (LON:ASC)  and boohoo.com PLC  (LON:BOO) have a lot in common. Both are AIM-listed UK online fashion retailers, both are aiming at young adults, both have reported surge in sales.

Yet ASOS is strongly leading the way ahead of boohoo.com

Range of products

As well as its own range of clothing and accessories, ASOS sells over 850 brands, including designer brands such as Calvin Klein, Michael Kors, Ray-Ban among others, giving its customers a wider choice of products at different price ranges.

As for boohoo.com, it mainly specialises in own brand fashion clothing, having only recently acquired PrettyLittleThing(PLT) and Nasty Gal.

Not only does ASOS offers more products, they seem to come with a higher price tag, while boohoo.com seems to be aiming at younger customers who want fashionable clothes for less money.

ASOS also seems ahead in delivery services. The company ships to over 200 countries, including the US, while boohoo.com can send its products to just over twenty countries.

Sales soar at ASOS and boohoo.com

Both fashion retailers reported big increase in sales and revenues. ASOS UK retail sales rose 23% to £300.9mln from £244mln, while total sales, which included contributions from the US, Europe and the rest of the world, jumped 30% to £790.4mln from £605.7mln.

Meanwhile boohoo.com reported 53% increase in revenue, to £183.6mln but almost all of the growth came from PrettyLittleThing, where sales jumped 158% to £79.2mln.

Best experience powered by technology

ASOS has been investing in its online platform to give its customers the best possible experience, and analysts at Jefferies thinks this is a key to the company’s competitive advantage.

“In a world of rising consumer expectations, we view ASOS’ functionality rich digital platform as a long-term winning model,” the analysts said.

Although boohoo.com continues to invest significantly in its infrastructure, it is at an earlier stage than its peers and analysts at Liberum Capital see it as a potential threat.

“One needs to be truly convinced boohoo can support its growth. We expect to see little operational leverage as the group invests behind proposition and service,” the analysts said.

ASOS market value is £5.6bn at 6,790p, while boohoo.com's market value £2.53bn and share price is 217.9p.

In AIM’s online fashion stakes, it looks like ASOS is stretching its lead.

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