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Asos is a global online fashion and beauty etailer which sells over 65000 branded and own label products through its website. The company ships for free to 234 countries from its 1. 1 million square foot global distribution centre in the UK. Asos has provide a website which is available in nine different countries and is tailored to its countries culture and language. The countries are: LJK, LJSA, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Australia, Russia and China. Asos takes in 21. 3miIlion visitors a month. The successful website was founded back in June 2000 by Nick Robertson and Quentin Griffiths.
Asos now has 4000 employees and is the UK’s largest online etailer Micro factors are factors within the immediate / close environment. Some micro factors that affect asos every day is that having an online website is excellent as it saves time and cost and is easier to achieve global expansion however due to more and more tablet users appearing it will have to change its sight to mobile to work on tablets. Also more and more people are using apps to shop so asos should look into creating an app for their brand.
Asos unique position in the market by aiming at 15-34 year olds who are always on the internet is effective as they are only based online. Their wide geographical overage and independent language sites are are a positive but some social media is banned in certain countries so asos cannot forward them all of the great promotions like they do in other countries. Macro factors are wider factors – more distant environment. Asos is affected by macro factors such as different taxes in different countries have to be accounted for on each website.
Also due to their large geographical coverage they have to measure different income levels of different countries and their legal matters and different size charts. Market research can be done either primary or secondary. Primary research is where the company collects original data from places such as surveys, observations, experiments and focus groups. This is an advantage as it is specific to your needs and you have full control however this costs more and takes longer than secondary research. Secondary research is when data is collected by someone else and you are looking for existing data.
This has the advantage as it is usually quick and cheap but the data can be too old and not specific enough. Both of the methods of carrying out research can be quantitive and qualitive. The difference between quantitive and qualtive is uantitive deals with numbers and data that can be measured and qualitive deals with descriptions and observes data. One primary research that Asos could carry out is giving their customers surveys to complete about things such as how much they are likely to spend.
Secondary research that Asos could carry out is what past fashions that magazines have published that could be bought from asos. Asos market research is all about engaging with its customers to find out their wants and needs. Asos has a database of 1. 9 million customers. In this database it holds info on purchasing behaviour, the ustomers favourite brands, spend patterns, payment method so well as basic info and lifestyle data. This allows Asos to create a trend list bad email customers of specific deals and new items that are in to fit their needs and taste.
Also asos uses a lot of social media to engage with the world of fashion especially following designers to see what the new fashions trends that will be coming in so that they can make these at a fraction of the cost. Market segmentation is specific sections of the market that an organisation is aiming at. In order for an organisation to engage its market segmentation the rganisation has to match its products to the customers wants and needs to appeal to the customer to buy the good or service.
Market segmentation allows an organisation to have a competitive edge and it is a key factor for the organisation profitability and survival. Company use target marketing which is when a business aims all of its marketing effort to a certain group of customers which is affective as these are the group that spends the most. There are many ways to segment the market to create that certain group such as demographics, psychographic, geographically and lifestyle. Demographics is consists of dividing the market into groups based on variables such as age, income, occupation, religion, race and nationality. sychographic segmentation is based on social class and lifestyle. Lifestyle is based on knowledge, attitude, their uses and segmentation. Geographic segmentation is the segmentation which divides the market but location, regions, countries and cities. Asos as an organisation is aimed at people of the ages of 15-34 year olds who are very fashion forward and who enjoy the culture of online shopping. In geographical segments Asos has created their ebsite differently for 9 different countries varying each for the countries tax, language, culture and legal policies.
The lifestyle of Asos specific group for customers are most of them are young late teens and twenty somethings who are students and young professionals who want to wear the fashion and designer trends at a fraction of its cost. 5. 0 Marketing Mix Marketing Mix is all about identifying customers’ needs and wants. Marketing is all about putting the customer at the centre of the company activities and minting this focus at all times, this is achievable by offering the 4p’s product, lace, price and promotion. 5. 1 Product Product is the tangible goods or services a brand offers.
Asos has an extensive choice of products with the organisation designing its website to contain over 60000 fashion and beauty products. On the website there are over 1000 brands to choose form which range from being asos own brand to designers such as Vivienne Westwood, river island and Nike. The website is constantly updating to keep up with local trends by adding 1 790 more styles every week. On the website women swear contains 4229 styles which include lingerie, swimwear, dresses, footwear etc. The Asos branding and logo is itself which stands for as seen on screen is on the packaging of every product send out.
Asos life cycle is at its growth Stage due to it still expanding and progressing every day. (See appendix 8. 1 ) Asos is located mainly in the UK with its Head office in London Camden. Their customer care unit is situated in Hempstead. Its 1. 1 million square foot global distribution centre is based in Barnsley and its technology Hub is based in Birmingham. However Asos does have other offices across the world such as in Sydney, New York and Munich. Within its distribution Asos offers free next day delivery to UK and also free global delivery depending of package size. See appendix 8. 2) 5. 3 Price Asos sets prices artificially higher than its other competitors due to their specific consumer percerptionsAsos carries a large number of brands this makes asos put the rrp of their that bit higher than other competitors such as h. Asos uses tactics pricing which is used to draw a customer into promotions an mark downs. To engage with its market segments it offers student discount and offers a percentage mores at promotions to engage its Customers to buy. rices compared to its competitors such as Topshop is a range if t-shirts from asos ranges from E7. 0-E65 whereas Topshop is dearer without the variety at E8-E75. 5. 4 Promotional Mix Asos has many promotional mixes. Asos engages with loyal customers by offering them to enter into competitions in order to win prices such as E250 worth of goods. They also have sales with marked down prices up to 70%. With the use of student discount and also discount codes they may offer to make the customer buy more as they believe they are saving money. Asos also use promotions every week such as savvy Sundays which offers iscounts every week.
Asos uses direct selling by emailing customers of specifically of their likes and tastes. (See appendix 8. 3) 5. 5 Additional gp’s The additional 3 P’s for marketing mix includes people, process and physical evidence. People includes management, employees, culture and customer. Asos provides excellent service by using all social media and customer care services to constantly engage with their feedback from customers in order to boost their customer’s perception of the company. When Asos is looking for a new member of staff it ensures that the member of staff has the essential ualifications and experienced for the job.
Asos also provides staff with the ability to progress through the company and work their way up the ranks by promotion. Process is where the service is provided. Asos ensures that it is a fast fashion clothing and beauty website at completive prices. Asos ensures that there deliveries are free and always arrive on time offering things such as next day delivery before a certain time. To keep consumers loyal to the brand they offer promotions to loyal customers and sent out discounts Of occasions such as the consumer’s birthday.
To ensure that there is excellent customer ervice they deal with all feedback they receive on social media and also have a customer care line open 24/7 for its customers. The physical evidence is the evidence that customers see and experience. They ensure that the website is quick and easy to use and user friendly. They ensure to accept many different payment methods to fit every customer needs. 6. 0 Conclusion Asos is an organisation that does marketing mix excellently they are always on date too change their website and fashions whenever a new trend occurs.