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Asos posted stellar results this week as it reaps the benefits of a supply chain geared up for millennial shoppers.
The fashion etailer’s business continues to soar with retail sales up 26% to £1.4bn and pre-tax profits excluding exceptionals surging 37% to £63.7m.
There are many reasons why fashion-conscious twentysomethings opt to shop at Asos – its slick website, its phenomenal range of brands, its gospel-like style advice and content – however, its supply chain is an important factor.
The retailer has made sure its entire supply chain is geared up to serve the millennial shopper.
The ‘want it now’ generation
This is a generation that wants things now. Wait three to five days for a delivery? Forget about it. Next day is just about bearable for these demanding customers.
And that’s what’s driving Asos’s results. Delivery receipts surged 35% in its full year due to higher next-day delivery usage and the expansion of its next-day subscription service Asos Premier.
“The millennial shopper does not want to change their routine; shopping and receiving goods must seamlessly fit in with their life”
Waiting around for deliveries to arrive is also a no-no for the average twenty year old. The millennial shopper does not want to change their routine; shopping and receiving goods must seamlessly fit in with their life.
Asos is giving these customers what they want by offering a one-hour delivery window, which means these impatient shoppers don’t have to wait around for the postman to arrive. Customers are also spoilt with a wealth of places to collect their new dresses and trainers, from Collect+ and Doddle shops to 61 Boots stores.
The quest for constant newness
The ’want it now’ mentality also extends to new products. Users of Asos’s app typically shop it eight times a month. This means they are constantly looking for something new and the etailer is striving to give them just that.
It already adds 4,000 new lines to its website every week, but is working with its supply base to further shorten lead times and is even investing more into UK manufacturing to bring more new product in front of fashion-hungry millennials.
Millennials don’t do printers
Returns is an area that causes friction for the young fashion shopper. The process of wrapping up a parcel and printing out and sticking on labels is clunky, time-consuming and certainly not in-keeping with the millennial routine.
Plus, young people don’t do printers. Digital natives don’t need print – everything is viewed and consumed on mobile.
“Shoppers need not fiddle with a sticky label – instead they present shopkeepers with a QR code on their ever-present mobile”
This is why Asos has innovated and created a label-less returns solution. Shoppers need not fiddle with a sticky label – instead they present shopkeepers with a QR code on their ever-present mobile, which can then be scanned and processed immediately.
Asos has designed every part of its supply chain around the needs of its young shopper. Retailers looking to win the spend of this new generation of consumer would be wise to follow suit.
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