ASOS sales growth slows despite record Black Friday and Cyber Monday
ASOS saw its “biggest ever trading week” during cyber weekend, according to chief executive Nick Robertson, although it failed to match last year's sales growth.
The boost it received around cyber monday on 28 November, was not enough to see sales growth return to last year’s figure of 15 per cent, with the online retailer reporting an 8 per cent lift following a “challenging” autumn.
The company, which has issued three profit warnings this year, said UK sales rose by 24 per cent to £104.8m in the three months to 30 November, but saw a slip in international sales, which dropped by 2 per cent in the same period in 2013.
Robertson said: “September and October were challenging as we completed the automation programme in Barnsley in time for peak [Christmas period]. Our sales have since gathered momentum and we had our biggest ever trading week over cyber weekend in November.”
He added that ASOS received an additional £6.3m of insurance proceeds following the fire in its Barnsley warehouse in June, and added that he expects full year profits to be in line with expectations.
ASOS has begun to “invest in international pricing” following a tough period of trading, and has begun to roll out a “zonal pricing capability” to improve its performance in the market.