ASOS plc(/ˈeɪsɒs/AY-soss)^[1]is a British online fashion and cosmetic retailer. The company was founded in 2000 in London, primarily aimed at young adults.^[2]The website sells over 850 brands as well as its own range of clothing and accessories, and ships to all 196 countries from fulfilment centres in the UK, US and Europe.^[2]

Despite deprecating its original meaning (AsSeenOnScreen^[3]), ASOS is still written as an uppercase acronym; the exception to the rule is the new logo designed by Ben Lewin in 2008, where it is stylistically shown all in lower case.

ASOS’ headquarters are in Camden Town, at Greater London House with additional offices in Paris, New York, Berlin and Birmingham. As of 2013, their main fulfilment centre is in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, where they employ 3,000 workers.^[4][5]The customer care department is based in Leavesden, nearWatford, in southwest Hertfordshire.^[6]

ASOS was established on 3 June 2000, by Nick Robertson,^[4]Andrew Regan^[7]and Quentin Griffiths. In 2001, ASOS was admitted to the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) on the London Stock Exchange.^[8]In 2003, ASOS shareholders agreed to change the names of AsSeenOnScreen Holdings PLC and AsSeenOnScreen Limited to ASOS plc and ASOS.com Limited. In 2004, the company reported a maiden profit, with sales almost doubling in its first half.^[9]In 2004, ASOS introduced their own label for women’s clothing.^[9]

In 2005, the Buncefield Fuel Depot explosion led to the closure of the business for six weeks and £5m of stock was lost.^[10]In 2008, ASOS debuted kidswear on its site, however the branded market subsequently suffered declines at the expense of fast-growing own-label kidswear offers. In 2010, ASOS announced it would no longer offer kidswear, to concentrate on its core young adult fashion market.^[11]

In the final quarter of 2010, ASOS launched three international online shops in France, Germany and the US. In September 2011, they launched three more sites in Australia, Italy and Spain.^[12]In 2012, ASOS opened its first international office in Sydney, Australia, followed by an office in New York.^[13]Later on, the company launched its first drama-game show series, called#DIGIDATING, starring AJ Odudu. It was billed as an Internet dating show with backstage drama.^[14]

In 2013, ASOSs opened its first office outside the South East, in Birmingham.^[15]Later in 2013, ASOS recalled belts contaminated with radioactive cobalt-60,^[16]ASOS Russia and China were launched in the same.^[4]In 2014, a fire in their Barnsley warehouse caused them to stop taking orders for almost three days.^[17][18]In 2015, ASOS has over 4,000 employees and is the UK’s largest independent online and fashion beauty retailer.^[19]During the 2014 Formula One season, ASOS was a sponsor of the McLaren Formula One team.^[20][21]

In September 2016, an investigative report from Buzzfeed News alleged poor working conditions at ASOS’ warehouse. However, company spokespersons contended that the isolated complaints reported in the Buzzfeed article were not reflective of the general working conditions there.^[22]

In 2017, workers continued to report that they often worked without regular breaks.^[23]

In April 2019, ASOS informed its clients through email that the company is looking into ways of changing its easy returns policy, after research showed customers manipulating the easy return process and the company admitted that the previous return policy was environmentally costly.^[24]

In November 2009, ASOS claimed a ratio of one Twitter follower to eight Facebook fans to 100 active e-mail subscribers. Their 2008 report pointed out that nearly 10% of sales could be directly attributed to email marketing.^[25]

In 2017 ASOS launched a campaign intended to take full advantage of the ‘Instagram Stories’ feature, encouraging users to upload videos of purchased ASOS products. 3 million people interacted with the video in the UK.^[26]ASOS uses the #AsSeenOnMe hashtag and any use of the hashtag adds the photos to an ASOS online database.^[27]

As of March 2018 A mobile app which has been downloaded 10 million times allows users to upload images of clothing they like and the app will then suggest matching or similar items that the company stock. ASOS claims that in the UK 58% of purchases happen on mobile devices.^[28]