Supermarket giant Asda will begin selling its George clothing range over the Internet for the first time next year in what insiders are describing as one of the retailer’s biggest online surges in recent history.
Initially a range of 1000 menswear, womenswear and childrenswear lines will be sold online to UK consumers as of February 2008, with a wider variety expected to follow.
Wal-Mart owned Asda has brought in Zendor, a subsidiary of the home shopping company N Brown, to manage and maintain the website and provide storage for the products.
Online shopping is fast becoming one of the largest sources of income for the UK shopping industry, with Internet spending per customer set to increase from £606 in 2006 to £1,056 by 2011.
Asda’s online move is expected to overtake Tesco’s online clothing plans. The UK’s largest supermarket chain briefly tested selling online clothing last Christmas but is yet to commit to launching a full offer.
Angela Spindler, global managing director for George, said: “George is the most asked for online offer from Asda shoppers, but a lot of people in the UK don’t have access to the brand .”
She added that Asda already operates a non-transactional website George.com, which attracts around 90,000 hits per month. Fashion ranges from George can be viewed on the site but not purchased.
The anticipated relaunch of the George brand in the US will go ahead next year, following a “soft launch” two years ago.
The George clothing range has achieved considerable success worldwide with global sales of $3 billion, and has also been a major factor in reducing clothing prices on the UK high street.
A pair of men’s jeans from George currently cost just £3 compared to £16.99 in 1997, while the price of ladies’ trousers has fallen from £19.99 to £5.
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