Asos won’t be making an Amazon-style move into physical shops
Asos won't be following in Amazon's footsteps and bringing its brand onto the high-street, intending to focus on mobile sales instead.
Speaking to City PM about whether the online retailer would ever open physical shops, Asos' chairman Brian McBride said: "It's not on our current plans.
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McBride said the idea of multichannel retailing – where companies have both an online and physical shop – was "trying to turn a vice into a virtue" because the high street is "a very cruel and demanding place".
"I think the idea of multichannel was invented to think of something to do with all of these stores," he said.
"I don't think you'd invest in stores if you didn't have them.
"The high street does struggle to keep up with change. Your Oxford Street stores just don't know what to do anymore. We know a lot more about our customers."
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He said that while shops aren't going to disappear, Asos has it's eyes on mobile.
"The big driver is mobile," he said. "Younger people are leading mobile – on their mobiles, they spend 80 per cent of their time on apps. It's very dynamic, you've got to keep up."
E-commerce's share of retail is set to double, he thinks, from 15 per cent at the moment to 30 per cent in the future.