News roundup--Asos, Achica, Aurora Fashions, more

Asos has posted another strong quarter with total sales up 34 percent year on year. The real bright spot was international, where sales rocketed 63 percent to £77.0 million. UK growth was a modest 4 percent during the fourth quarter from £45.3 million to £47.1 million, potentially signalling that Asos is losing market share in an extremely competitive UK market. For the full year, retail sales are up 49 percent to £481.6 million, with international sales doubling to £283.7 million in the 31st March 2012. During the year Asos launched new websites in Spain, Italy and Australia.

Secret sales website Achica delivered a staggering 650 percent rise in sales in 2011, reaching £14.7 million in just its second year of trading. By the end of the year, the company expects to turnover £60 million. Achica launched in France in February and Spain in March this year and expects to open in two new countries by the end of 2012.

Aurora Fashions, which operates the Coast, Oasis and Warehouse brands, is rolling out its ecommerce site into the US and Australia next month. The launch will be followed by four other European markets later this year, understood to be Sweden, the Netherlands, France and Spain, with local language and payment methods tailored to each market.

The Independent looks at what Amazon’s new b-to-b arm means to industrial equipment suppliers in the UK.

Parcel delivery firm Yodel, which has got some stick in recent weeks for late and failed deliveries, has announced it is moving to a six-day-a-week service, increasing to seven days during December, with the removal of premium charges for weekend deliveries, and standard pricing across the UK, including highlands and islands in order to meet consumer service demands. “We’ve reviewed our performance, listened to consumer demand and responded,” commented Yodel’s chief executive, Jonathan Smith. The new offering marks a change in focus for Yodel, which says it has invested significantly in its IT and physical infrastructure to keep pace with the expanding market.