Asos readies drive to target men

Online fashion retailer Asos is to focus on boosting the number of men that make purchases from its site as it looks to achieve £1bn in sales by 2015.

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Asos says menswear accounts for 20% of its business but that its brand awareness is still “very low” among men.

The company does not break down sales figures by gender, but group revenue rose 52% to £339.7m for the year to 31 March.

Asos says its outlook is positive for 2012 and that the company is “on track” to achieving its £1bn target by 2015.

CEO Nick Robertson says the company faces a challenge when marketing to men because the traditional male interests, such as sports and beer, do not fit Asos’s current brand strategy.

He says: “Men don’t tell their friends where they shop like girls do. It will be a big challenge for our marketing team this year to crack this one.”

Asos launched its own label for men in 2007, three years after launching its own female range.

The menswear division competes with other male etailers such as Net-a-Porter’s Mr Porter and Oki-ni.