In this weekly activity, I would talk about ASOS, one of biggest online fashion retailers in the world, by utilizing social networks to achieve success.
Background of ASOS
ASOS is the largest British online fashion and beauty retailer. It sells over 65,000 branded and own-label products to all over the world and ships all the items to 234 countries for free.
ASOS is more than a fashion online retailer. It also provides platform (Marketplace)for people who have independent label or boutiques to sell on its website. They can list their items on the website for free, which in turn ASOS only charge a few amount of commission.
Apart from that, ASOS is also a fashion finder which allows buyers or sellers to upload their daily fashion outfit on the street. Those outfits are tagged individually on their personal blog. People would find their favorite and probably the most fashionable outfit for their own preferences.
Secretes behind its success
There is evidence (Gemma Lovelock, 2013) reveals it achieves success while other big companies fail, potentially due to applying multiple social technologies in online retail.
Twitter is one of the social technologies they use as a communication channel with customers. ASOS posts latest products, questions, announcements or news on Twitter. Besides, customers could ask any questions, or even complain on their official Twitter and get fast response from customer service staff.
Refer to McKinsey’s report (McKinsey, 2013, P 39-40), in customer service perspective, social technologies do give companies a way to listen to their customers, identify potential risks with services or products and seek improvements through customers’ advice or complaints. It cannot be denied that Twitter is one of most accessible social technologies people live with their smartphones, laptop or iPad in daily life. Compared with traditional tool -- email, customer can easily send their requirements and get fast response from staff. Last but not least, ASOS also largely increase customers’ engagement by posting interesting questions related with fashion through Twitter.
Twitter is just small piece of tricks ASOS uses to engage and provide quality service for customers . They also have multiple social tools embedded in their website including Facebook, Google +, YouTube, Instagram, Linkin etc. It just implies the secrets behind its success – ‘social’ and all about customers.
Reference
McKinsey. (2013). The social economy: Unlocking value and productivity through social technologies. Retrieved from https://about.yammer.com/assets/MGI_The_social_economy_Full_Report2.pdf
Hi jun,an interesting blog, a complete information has been provided that can develop a basic level of understanding for reader with the effective use of social media marketing tools.
ReplyDeleteGreat post (:
thanks for your comment
DeleteI think I will try to use ASOS as the start point of my online shopping journey, it is a very interesting platform not only contains large numbers of items but also provides a community to share the fashion ideas and innovations.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jay, good job!
Yes, indeed. I am pleased you find a start point for your fashion journey through my blog. If your have any inquiries about how to use it, just tell me. I am keen to help.
DeleteHi Jun, good work! I think you really picked a good example! Good to know another successful example of using Twitter to engage with its customers!
ReplyDeletePlease check my latest two posts and give me some feedback, thanks!
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Thanks Jodie, Twitter is just one of the social presence of ASOS, there are more can be investigated in the future. thanks
DeleteHi Jun,
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this post, I personally like ASOS sellers and buyers community, which engages more customer communication and sharing their experience all in one. And I would like to consider the discussion in the future.
Thank you for sharing.
Ta
Wow, that's cool. ASOS definitely does a good job on communicate with customers by having particular Twitter account and building communities for customers.
DeleteThanks