The below caption was taken from the ASOS website and I found it to be a really good basis that I can refer back to when planning details of the Menswear app to ensure I have their core beliefs and aims at the heart of everything I'm doing.
The ASOS target customer as noted on their site:
http://www.asosplc.com/how-we-do-it.aspx - accessed 22/10/13
Overview
Our core customer is the twenty-something fashion-lover: an avid consumer and communicator who is inspired by friends, celebrities and the media.We are obsessive about understanding them so we can join their conversation and offer them the fashion they want.
Who they are
Setting trends or following them, most twenty-somethings are engaged with fashion.For them, their clothing – and beyond that, their style – expresses their identity and helps them assert their individuality.
Twenty-something consumers lead digital lives: they have instant access to information, communicate constantly with friends and broadcast their daily lives and thoughts across the social networks. For them this level of communication and interaction is what they’ve grown up with.
And fashion matters to them: 67% of under-25s believe how they look is important with almost three quarters of all young women saying they enjoy shopping for clothes*.
That’s because fashion is also entertainment. These young consumers don’t just like to shop online. They follow and often comment on celebrity trends; they blog their own “fashion editorial”; they broadcast their thoughts on style in soundbites on social networks and via YouTube.
How do they like to shop?
Two thirds of those aged 19-25 shop online because it’s faster and easier**. And they are responding in different ways to the financial squeeze – for example, in the UK we’ve found that the 18-21-year-old group is the most likely to shop according to discounts compared to those in their mid or late twenties*.
* Mintel Young Fashion Report December 2011 ** ASOS Finance analysis by age bracket February 2012
http://www.asosplc.com/how-we-do-it.aspx - accessed 28/10/2013
App Potential Postings
http://www.asosplc.com/how-we-do-it.aspx#section2 accessed 19/10/13
‘We talk style, beauty, celebrities, music, and television and we do it
through high quality editorial, on our blogs, through our Magazine and in our
daily edits and updates.’
These are really useful subjects to bear in mind when thinking about the content of the Menswear app.
Future Plans
This screen grab above from the ASOS website is really
interesting. As stated they are ‘concentrating more then ever on appealing to
men’ And in the 2012 menswear sales jumped by 24%. The launch of the low down
app should hopefully further this growth and assist with appealing to the wider
male market.
http://www.asosplc.com/how-we-do-it.aspx#section2 accessed 19/10/13
This is a really positive article that I came across on The
Drum website. It shows that ASOS has 7.1 million active users and that their
focus for the next year is to develop apps – good news for the proposed Lowdown
app!
http://www.thedrum.com/news/2013/10/23/asos-continue-mobile-app-development-strategic-markets-it-reveals-growth-71-million
accessed 14/10/2013 accessed 24/10/13
Current Focus
As we can see from the above screen grab from the ASOS site
the ASOS Magazine is purely focused on Women. All 12 cover stars from the last
year have been women and there is not Menswear editorial included. The Magazine
is part of the ASOS Premier Subscription offer so to alienate this benefit from
males could potentially discourage men from joining.
http://www.asosplc.com/how-we-do-it.aspx#section2 accessed 19/10/13
As you can see from this page in the ASOS Magazine from May
2013 ASOS currently has 3 apps, the scan to shop app (for the magazine) the
Fashion Up app and the general ASOS shopping app. Out of all 3 there is no
specific app direct at the Male customer in the Same was the Fashion Up is for
the Females. Bearing in mind the Magazine is just womenswear the Scan to shop
app would be redundant on the Male customer base.
Ambition
The launch of ‘low down’ perfectly fits in line with ASOS’
ambition as shown below on their website
http://www.asosplc.com/our-ambition-and-strategy.aspx - accessed 19/10/2013
Men's Editorial From The Site
Back in September ASOS launched the ‘Daily Edit’ feature on
their site. The Menswear page on average has 1 post a day including funny news
storys, tv/film edits and product features. This is the key kind of editorial
that could be featured in the Low Down App and shows that ASOS Menswear has not
been totally missed out of ASOS’ Marketing and Social plans.
Germany's Winter Olympics Team – Josh Woodfin 22/10/13
http://www.asos.com/men/fashion-news/2013/october/wc_21st/style-icon-winter-olympics/?WT.ac=ED|MW|dest|list||1022GERM
accessed 22/10/13
This shows a more humours and witty side to the ASOS
Menswear Tone of Voice. It shows they’re not afraid to be more risqué than the
women’s side of ASOS and this is key when planning features for the app to stay
true to the ASOS Menswear brand tone.
Fifty shades casting takeover Alistair Mulhall 17/10/13
http://www.asos.com/men/fashion-news/2013/october/wc_14th/50-shades-casting-takeover/?WT.ac=ED|MW|dest|list||1017FIFT accessed 22/10/13
This screen grab from the @ASOS_Menswear twitter really
shows the ASOS Menswear direction and the language they use emphasises the laid
back and witty style they have. The top tweet Today, Apple is announcing the new iPad. Yesterday, bought the
existing iPad at full price. Loving life!’ is a really great example of
possible content that could be extended to create a full feature on the Low
Down App. The imagery used in their twitter background is also worth noting, it
shows informal and casual looking males perhaps a representation of their
target customer. This again is something that should be continued through to
the app to create fluidity and ensure the app is following the ASOS Menswear
branding across all platforms.
http://fashionfinder.asos.com/fashion-trends/mens-aw13/style-tribes/day-off-860?ffcta6-131010
accessed 22/10/2013
Men’s fashion does lightly feature in the ASOS Fashion
Finder section with ‘Which weekend styles are you’ features and users uploading
their own street style looks. It shows the ASOS Male is a conscious consumer
and is keen to actively get involved. Hopefully these users will benefit from
the launch of the Low Down app and actively read the content on their mobiles when
they’re out and about, travelling or at a lecture!
ASOS 2012/13 Financial Report
The ASOS 2012/13 financial report was released this week. I have read through it and watched all the presentations that are available. We also had a meeting with the Exec Board with plans for the future financial year. Key things I took from the end of year report are shown below:
The Fashion
Destination – desktop and mobile -Source –
google analytics and web trends http://www.asosplc.com/~/media/Files/A/ASOS/results-archive/pdf/fy-2013-presentation.pdf - accessed 20/11/13
- Enhanced mobile phone and tablet sites – these now account for 30% of visits
- Rebuilding of key IT and web platforms to handle our future volumes
•
We constantly enhance our
websites
to ensure we offer the most engaging customer experience, with
particular focus on developing and improving our mobile sites and apps as these
represent an ever- increasing proportion of our traffic and sales.
The above statements and figures are really useful when looking at my business proposal as ASOS are already aware of the importance of apps and mobile sites.
The below shows their risks assessment for the forthcoming year taken again from the annual report
Outlook
•
We have started the new financial
year positively. Our £1 billion sales target is now firmly in our sights and we
have stepped up our investment in people, technology, logistics and marketing
to support the significant global
The above shows that ASOS are in a good financial position to invest due a really strong year that they have had and that technology and marketing will be a key focus next year!
Technological Risks
Failure or interruption of
or denial of access
to information technology systems and infrastructure
The Group is dependent on
its IT infrastructure and any system performance issues (for example system or
infrastructure failure, damage or denial of access) could seriously affect our
ability to trade.
To combat that
Ongoing investment made in
IT systems to ensure that they are able to continue to respond to the needs of
the business and do not become obsolete.
• Back-up facilities in place to ensure that business interruptions are
minimised and internal and customer data is protected from corruption or unauthorised
use.
• Business recovery plans in place to minimise effects of damage or denial
of access to infrastructure or systems.
Technology Risk
Failure to adopt
technological innovations
Internet retailing is based
on rapidly changing technologies and failure to adopt new technological
platforms to reach its target market could impact ASOS’s performance.
Combat
Proactive approach to
adopting technological developments to retain appeal within core customer
market.
• Proactive approach to collecting and analysing data from customer spend
and site usage habits to try to establish any important trends.
The above risks and combat strategies show that I need to consider any risks within my project as they are clearly important to ASOS.
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