Asos sales surge as Christmas shoppers flock online

Asos said its UK arm generated a sales advance of 37% in the four months to December 31 and international sales, which make up 60% of the retail total, rose 38%.

Total sales across the group rose 37% to £342.6m. The etailer said it had 7.9 million active customers at the end of 2013, 41% up on the prior year.

Asos chief executive Nick Robertson said: “We have enjoyed another strong Christmas and made a good start to the financial year.

“These results were driven by significant improvements to our customer proposition, including better delivery options, additional payment methods and the roll out of our premier service in key international markets.”

Robertson said that its UK sales jump was driven by its investment in improving its delivery service by offering speedier service, text alerts and later next day delivery cut-offs.

Robertson said that the UK market was promotional over the Christmas period and although it “optically played the promotional game” it had tighter control of stock that helped margins increase 90 basis points.

Asos reported that customer numbers were up 41% year on year and now total 7.9 million.