New Look Squares Up To Online Rivals

Thursday, April 1, 2010 - 14:10 by Simon Crisp

Rivalry in the fashion world is far from restricted to the catwalk. Some of the major brands in the online fashion retail sector are set to compete ever more intensively over the coming months. One of the UK's high street fashion retailers, New Look, is going head to head with its major fashion retail rivals, Asos and Next, in fighting for a larger share of the market in attracting those looking do some safe shopping online.

The high street giant has just re-launched its website boasting a range of new features, with the New Look management team hoping that the second generation site will put the retailer in line with veteran online fashion retailers including e-retailer Asos and Next, the latter of which operates both high street bricks-and-mortar stores and online retail outlets.

Each of these retailers has long been established with consumers looking to do their safe shopping online. Now, however, New Look is pushing ever harder for more of the cyberspace action, hoping to boost overseas online sales in the process. New Look's management also believe that its ability to operate as a multi-channel retailer will put it ahead of pure-play online e-retailers such as Asos.

The New Look site benefits from a high impact black and silver design, together with features such as improved navigation, 360 product viewing options and enhanced photography. Also coming up, in the bid to attract overseas shoppers, will be mobile commerce facilities and enhanced foreign currency and language facilities. The New Look site already operates in 24 countries.

However, one limitation to New Look's ambitious plans may be that the store is purely going to be offering its own branded goods, whereas Next and Asos are offering a wider variety of goods, including non-branded items, in addition to their own branded ranges.

The battle lines are drawn!