ASOS has resumed trading following a fire at its main warehouse on Friday night. The online fashion retailer shut down its website while firefighters tackled the blaze, putting it live again at two o’clock on Monday morning.
The fire took place at ASOS’ Barnsley premises – where 70 percent (£159m) of its total stock is held – and required more than 60 firefighters to be brought under control. Police are treating the incident as an arson attack.
“This could significantly impact the trust smaller labels place in ASOS as their primary platform”
In a statement, ASOS said that neither the technology, automation nor structure of the building had been affected by the fire. However, they added that 20 percent of stock at the site had been compromised.
Analysts estimate the stock damage at cost price is £20m, however this could be as much as £30m at retail prices.
Asked about the potential impact of the fire, Anusha Couttigane, a consultant at retail analyst firm Conlumino, speculated that it could put pressure on ASOS’ relationships with smaller brands: “Whilst many of the larger brands ASOS stocks, from established fashion retailers, may be able to help by supplementing contingency stock, there will be a number of smaller labels for whom production means are limited and ASOS is their biggest distributor. This could significantly impact the trust smaller labels place in ASOS as their primary platform.”
The fire is not the first casualty for ASOS this month, as on June 5 the company announced that its full year profits would miss their forecast by 30 percent, causing shares to drop by 40 percent.
Still, Couttigane remains optimistic about the retailer’s future. “ASOS is as much of a cultural phenomenon as it is a retailer”, she said, adding that the firm had already been considering “having a more strategic spread of stock bases”. If ASOS goes ahead with such plans, this could protect it in the future if such an unfortunate event were to happen again.
