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Sustainable growth key to long-term future says ASOS
Under José Antonio Ramos Calamonte, ASOS has moved away from its promotional strategy and towards longer term relationships with customers to create sustainable growth, the CEO told delegates at World Retail Congress today.
Calamonte became CEO in 2022 and said that, after Covid, trading for online fashion was at a tipping point having surged while shoppers could only buy online.
“In general, you have to have a very clear idea about what you want, and for us that was about sustainable growth, coming from a very fast but not sustainable growth period,” he said. “There are no short cuts, it takes time, persistence, excellence. I think customer centricity is the best way for sustainable growth, no trade-offs.”
He said that it was also a big change from promotional strategies to what he called a new language, continuing its journey and moving away from the old model.
“We had a very interesting collab with Adidas, new drop, sold out and no price drops or promotions,” he said of the new way of approaching customers, noting that communications also have to be more personalised and relevant.
“Customer feedback is that the messaging was overwhelming. There was too much noise,” he said. “The message has to be that we stick with the strategy. You can’t say that this is the best product and then say and here’s a big promotional discount.”
In terms of retail media, he said that he wanted to avoid a monetisation approach and instead what it to be an enhancement to the customer experience, stressing that he was “not obsessed” with having the biggest platform for ASOS.
However, he also said that he believed AI will act as an enabler to the customer experience, a critical focus but not just operational. While it is giving the retailer cost efficiencies, he emphasised that this needed to be reinvested into a better consumer experience, that is relevant and helpful.
“That is where their idea of trust and engagement comes, it’s the part of AI I am excited about,” he said.
ROKT Head of EMEA Marc Allsop moderated the session in Berlin.