Tesco to launch own-label fashion website

The UK’s largest retailer wants to replicate the success of online fashion retailer Asos, which has recorded soaring sales despite the downturn.

The site will offer thousands of items and is expected to be operational in time for this autumn’s ranges, according to The Guardian.

The project is being spearheaded by clothing boss Terry Green and will look different to the retailer’s existing Tesco.com website.

In 2007, internet clothing sales totalled £1.7bn – 4 per cent of the total clothing market.

Industry observers forecast that the online fashion sector will grow to 13 per cent of the total clothing market and be worth£6bn by 2016.

The new Tesco site follows a trial last year which a Tesco spokesman said demonstrated online shoppers wanted “thousands of lines to choose from”. The site will offer Tesco’s Florence & Fred and Cherokee ranges as well as the new My Favourite Things range, fronted by Sound of Music star Connie Fisher. Basics such as socks, tights and underwear will not be available.

Tesco commercial director Richard Brasher said the website “will be designed to look different from any of our other online sites”.

Meanwhile, Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy has told suppliers that they will have to lower prices on the back of falling commodity prices to help cash-strapped consumers.

Leahy said at a City Food Lecture at the Guildhall: “These lower prices need to be fed into the supply chain and passed on to consumers who are under pressure.

“We want to ensure that all our suppliers understand this, which is why we are going to great lengths to talk to them about the new pressures consumers are under.”