Asos pins its hopes on older, foreign customers
Internet shopping sensation Asos indicated today that it will increasingly look overseas to fuel growth.
Chief executive Nick Robertson also said he hopes to gain older customers as youth unemployment in the UK has proved a problem for the Asos customer base.
The company, formerly called As Seen On Screen, unveiled a 47% rise in sales for the six months to the end of September.
Although that's a pace of growth few retailers can match, it is still much slower than Asos has been used to delivering. Robertson said: "Clearly there are macro issues. Retailers across the board are going to have to work a lot harder. We all know the situation."
He added: "I absolutely get that 16 to 24 year-olds are having a torrid time. We are looking more at 25 to
34 year-olds who are still in work and still benefit from lower mortgages."
International sales in the first half of the year rose 110%. This arm now accounts for a quarter of total sales. Asos has 1.2 million active customers, up from 890,000 a year ago.
The shares have tripled in value over the past two years, though the shine has come off them lately.
They opened today at 354¼p, which values the business at about £260 million. Broker KPC Peel Hunt reckons the shares are a buy, with a target price of 400p.
