YES
Gary Lace, Founding partner, (Beta)
This is nothing new for good retailers. Tesco and John Lewis - huge high-street names and two of the UK's top 10 online retailers - both sell their own-label products alongside third-party brands. Clearly such sales opportunities make commercial sense. In consumers' eyes, they confirm the retailer as a convenient portal for all their needs. Asos' ambition to provide 'the very best of fashion all in one place' should increase sales, improve brand loyalty and increase visits over time.
There are other benefits beyond retailing. In a cluttered communications landscape, third-party initiatives can help brands cut through and develop more relevant, engaging conversations with consumers.
Brand sponsorships - E.ON and the FA Cup, for instance - provide the opportunity for a low-interest brand to borrow interest from a more relevant one. Multibrand platforms like American Express Red further demonstrate that those you surround your brand with can be as important as what you say or do.
YES
Paul Hammersley, Chief executive, The Red Brick Road
Asos is a retailer, not a manufacturer, so expanding its offering with partners which, I imagine, are popular with its audience anyway can only increase its attractiveness to the online clothes shopper. It is enriching its offering at no risk of undermining its central, unique proposition. What's more, desirable partners will bring in a new audience that is less familiar with Asos, a feted, but still relatively niche, destination.
Equally important is that in a digital world, the competitive context is markedly different. It's Google that online businesses need to worry about. Asos' affiliation with more brands, products and trends will improve its organic search performance, bringing even greater visibility and more traffic.
Lastly, the partnerships will lead to greater loyalty: Asos is surely aiming to be the destination of choice for online clothes shoppers. This broader offering will ensure more-frequent visits, more revenue and more customer data.
Perhaps we're witnessing the rebirth of the 'portal' - but one that's specific and relevant this time.
YES
Jenny Ashmore, Global marketing capability officer, Mars
In a product context, I would always say no. I never want to do anything that embeds a memory for a competitor, nor eases its path to purchase.
However, this is etailing. Challenge number one is to get more people through the store's 'doors'. Given a strong online share, this new service could extend reach - just as more competitors open more online stores.
Challenge number two is to convert the clothes browser to a buyer. Asos already claims to outperform clothing etailing with more than 6% conversion (three time the average). Maybe this can be improved with this one-stop shop (no need to check whether you can get better elsewhere), and reassurance from catwalk trends plus social networking with others like you.
Third, there is the framing of the benefit: maybe chief executive Nick Robertson is betting that this approach best shows off his business' key strength - speed of new outfits from first celebrity outing to a mass online range in just a few weeks.
MAYBE
Daniele Fiandaca, Founder, Digital Fauna and Creative Social
This is a smart move by Asos. Fashion Finder is simply a super-affiliates network that complements the Asos.com site and its Marketplace. It extends its revenue base and, I guess, is part of a strategy to 'own' fashion online.
It also displays a real confidence in its core product - something that is not new. I remember when Tesco launched Tesco Price Check, allowing people to compare the cost of their shopping basket with their competitors. When, at Profero, we created the Myskystatus tool for Lufthansa for travellers to update their status in the air, we opened it up to anyone flying on any airline. Perhaps the best example, though, comes from the US, where Zappos will readily send people to a competitor to buy a pair of shoes if it does not stock them.
Provided you are confident that your product is better than that of the competition, it is a good idea. If not, you'd be better served using your budget to improve your product.
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