Asos has announced as part of its H1 2025 financial results that it has spent the period rebuilding its engagement with Topshop and Topman customers and ramping up its brand activity with events and experiences.
It published an Instagram social post last month (March) that read “we missed you too,” which created a buzz about the prospect of the brand’s return to the UK high street.
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Asos has now confirmed that “through a select range of wholesale partners” it will be bringing “the best” of Topshop and Topman to customers by the end of FY25.
It added that it also plans to launch a dedicated website for the brand — Topshop.com.
It is five years since Topshop and Topman’s parent company Arcadia went into administration and four years since online fashion retailer Asos took it out of administration, but made it online-only.
GlobalData’s senior apparel analyst Pippa Stephens sees Topshop as one of the key initiatives that could improve Asos’ future performance.
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By GlobalDataShe tells Just Style: “The most notable is the relaunch of Topshop and Topman, which Asos still has a 25% stake in, with standalone websites launching in H2, and the brands’ social media pages hinting at a possible return of physical stores.”
She adds: “These brands currently get lost among Asos’ wide product range, so this should help to bolster their visibilities and appeal once again.”
GlobalData’s head of apparel analysis Chloe Collins points out Topshop and Topman’s launch through new wholesale partners “should be beneficial for the brands to reignite consumer awareness and appeal”.
She explains: “Millennial shoppers have been very excited by the prospect of a standalone Topshop store from the teasers on the brands’ social media pages, and though a wholesale partnership will not have quite as big an impact, it does still provide consumers with an opportunity to shop the brands in person again.
“It will also provide Asos and Heartland with the chance to analyse whether the hype translates into in-person visits, so they can assess whether a standalone site would be worth the investment.
However, she continues: “It is yet to be announced who the wholesale partners are, and as the locations will operate as wholesale rather than concessions, it is all reliant on whether these partners can bring the brands to life again and create an engaging and exciting in-store experience”.
Collins believes “Selfridges would be the most obvious partner” due to “new buzzy brands such as Tala and Adanola choosing to partner with the department store recently thanks to its superior offering and high destination appeal”.
Asos CEO José Antonio Ramos Calamonte said: “H1 FY25 is the strongest sign yet that our new commercial model is working. We are driving a significant transformation in profitability, with positive adjusted EBITDA up by c.£60m YoY.”
However, the online fashion retailer also disclosed total group revenue of £1.30bn for H1 FY25, which was a 13% decrease from its £1.51bn in the prior year. Total like-for-like (LFL) sales also dropped by 13%.
