ASOS sewing up customer satisfaction

ASOS recently reported revenues of £1.3bn for the four months leading up to June 30, 2021 – a year-on-year increase on last year’s performance of £1.1bn. Beyond customer growth, however, data from YouGov BrandIndex shows that the online fashion retailer has seen real improvement in a number of key areas.

ASOS’ Impression scores – which track whether consumers have a positive or negative view of a brand – doubled from 5.5 to 11.4 between January 1 and July 22 (+5.9): to just a little lower than the peak score for the year so far (13.8 – February 3). Reputation scores, which measure whether a member of the public would be proud or embarrassed to work for a particular company, also doubled: rising from 3.1 to 6.7 over the same period (+3.6).

Some commentators have suggested that ASOS, as an online-only retailer, have been uniquely placed to benefit from the volatile circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic – where, due to lockdown, bricks-and-mortar brands have been prohibited from trading on high streets (with some competitors having no online e-commerce presence).

But our data suggests that, alongside rising sales in 2021 and improved consumer perceptions, the brand has enhanced its overall commercial appeal. With high street chains shut for much of 2021 – and the advantage of being able to see, feel and try on clothes in-person effectively removed – ASOS saw Value for Money scores go from 7.7 to 11.2 (+3.5) between January 1 and July 22, while Recommendation also saw a meaningful uptick, rising from 5.5. to 10.1 (+4.6).

Importantly, customers are also happy with what they’re getting from ASOS. Satisfaction scores, which measure whether consumers are a satisfied or dissatisfied customer of a fashion chain, went from 7.6 to 12.7 (+5.1).

And looking beyond people who bought from the brand, there’s evidence that more people are planning to do so in future. Consideration scores rose from 11.1 to 14.9 (+3.8), while Purchase Intent – which asks consumers which brands they’d be most likely to buy from in future – rose from 4.8 to 8.1 (+3.3).

This article previously appeared in City A.M.