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LONDON – It’s no secret that young consumers look to celebrities for their fashion inspiration – but the teen set isn’t the only one charting the stars.
ASOS, short for As Seen on Screen, a U.K. e-tailer, has offered apparel, jewelry and beauty products modeled on the style of various celebrities favored by teens and young adults. At any given time, styles inspired by between 30 and 100 stars have been put up for sale in cyberspace at asos.com.
Trading on the tastes of the rich and famous had been clicking for ASOS prior to an explosion and fire on Dec. 11 at its new warehouse: Sales climbed 86 percent to $14.4 million in the six months ended Sept. 30.
The Web site’s roster of registered users also had robust growth this year, expanding to 725,000 people as of November, up 73 percent over year-ago levels.
However, the December explosion and fire that occurred at an oil plant located just 1,600 feet away from ASOS’ warehouse in Hemel Hempstead, northeast of London, ended the company’s holiday selling as roughly half of its merchandise was damaged. The remaining merchandise is being delivered to a backup warehouse in Peterborough, and ASOS expects to resume its business online in early January.
Analysts predicted the truncated holiday season would hit the firm hard in 2006, both financially and in the public’s perception of the brand.
Costs associated with the move in August to the 70,000-square-foot warehouse from a 10,000-square-foot facility had already resulted in a pre-tax loss of $209,000 for ASOS for the six months ended Sept. 30. A year earlier, the publicly held e-tailer notched a pre-tax profit of $220,000.
Jonathan Jones, marketing director of As Seen on Screen, said the company had no access to the Hemel Hempstead warehouse, and had not been told yet when it would. Approximately half the company’s merchandise was lost; Jones said the company was fully insured.
Despite ASOS’ insurance policy, Anne-Marie Hartnett, senior analyst at retail consultant Verdict Research, projected, “It will be a big upset for the brand. ASOS had moved to a bigger warehouse because they couldn’t cope with demand last Christmas. That affected their performance in the first half of the year,” she recounted. “Having to shut the site during Christmas this year will have a further negative effect on the company’s performance.”
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Still, Hartnett was sanguine about the brand’s long-term prospects – if it recovers quickly – based on its strong growth, an upswing fueled by its sharp focus on women and girls in their teens and 20s who want to dress like celebrities. ASOS markets itself in the U.K. through a combination of e-mails sent to its registered users; print ads placed in celebrity weeklies and in titles such as U.K. Glamour, and online banner ads posted at Web sites like Internet portal Wanadoo and Sky TV’s online destination.
Currently, 3 to 4 percent of the company’s sales come from the U.S., but Jones said the company has no plans to actively market itself there in the near term. “We still have a lot of work to do educating people about the brand in the U.K.,” he noted.
While ASOS commissions about 80 percent of its products directly from manufacturers, it also sells pieces under such labels as Miss Sixty, Rock & Republic and Triple Five Soul. Commissioned items include a red Empire-line dress in the style of Sienna Miller, as she was photographed leaving Nobu on a night out in London, and a lace-and-cotton top in the style of Keira Knightley, similar to one she wore to a memorial service in London following the terrorist attacks in July.
ASOS researches such looks by perusing photo agencies’ Web sites; newspaper gossip columns, and fashion runway shows. The e-tailer does not seek permission from celebrities to feature the styles it markets as having been inspired by them, but it does post a disclaimer on its Web site stating the entertainers have not endorsed the interpretations.
As Seen on Screen was launched in 2000 by Nick Robertson, the great-grandson of U.K. retailer Austin Reed. The company name reflects the e-tailer’s original offer of apparel and home products that had been featured in films and on TV. Robertson was inspired to launch the venture after learning NBC received numerous calls from viewers inquiring about a lamp they’d seen in an episode of “Friends.” The company began specializing in takes on the fashions sported by TV entertainers when they proved to be the most popular.