It has been estimated that at its peak popularity ASOS, the online UK retailer, has four plane loads of goods arrive into Australia every day. However recent reports have stated ASOS have said that Australian shoppers are not using their site as much as previously. This is in-line with a recent article showing that Australians were doing more online shopping from local stores than overseas stores. In line with a fall in Australian sales, ASOS which is public company, has seen its share price decline 60% over the past 6 months.
One of the biggest reasons why ASOS sales may have declined is because of the recent fall in the value of the Australian dollar. With price being the determining factor in most online shopping this is not surprising. So while ASOS is reported to be struggling with this situation, the same would apply most likely for all other international retailers traditionally popular with Australian internet shoppers.
ASOS Sales Challenge. Local Retail Opportunity.
With ASOS seeing a potential challenge if the Australian dollar stays less competitive then this could be a great result for Australian shoppers. They will be working even harder to provide specials, incentives & promotions to convince you to go back to shopping with ASOS. The company’s chief executive recently said that in the new financial year ASOS would make significant investments in their international pricing and proposition. So shoppers should stay tuned to see how ASOS can respond to current competitive pressures.
Australian online and physical store retailers are likely to welcome ASOS’s recent challenges. It is also good timing as the busy Spring/Summer and Holiday shopping periods approach. Now is actually a golden opportunity for Australian retailers to embrace online to engage interested consumers in their products & services. If they can capture new customers initially with price and build up greater loyalty, when overseas shopping becomes cheaper again they should offer more resistance.