Many retailers are constantly reviewing and increasing the prices of products due to the high cost of living. That being said, if you have been shopping on ASOS for years, you might have noticed that some items have become more expensive.
So, why exactly is ASOS so expensive? If you’d like to find out, continue reading this article for more useful facts regarding the subject!
Why Is ASOS So Expensive in [currentyear]?
1. High International Shipping Costs
Since 2020, international shipping costs have been on the rise, contributing to the increase in other costs.
These costs have been increasing because of the rising demand, saturated ports, shortage of containers, and too few ships.
Additionally, ASOS uses couriers who are affected by the rise in fuel and transportation costs.
Therefore, the overall cost of shipping has gone up, and they have to pass it on to the customer.
2. Fuel Surcharge Increase
In the UK, ASOS has used DPD to ship items for more than ten years in a partnership that extends to September 2024.
On the other hand, in the U.S., ASOS uses UPS; therefore, customers can use this service to receive their orders.
As well, ASOS ships to other countries internationally, where they use different courier companies, which vary depending on the destination.
These courier companies are affected by the fuel surge, which has increased to more than $4 per gallon in 2022 compared to $1.93 per gallon in 2020.
With these increases in fuel prices, the courier companies have had to increase the cost of all the shipments.
For instance, UPS has a fleet of more than 100,000 trucks and about 300 private aircraft.
They use these to make trips across the world to deliver items; therefore, spending a lot of money on fuel. This cost is then passed on to ASOS, making the items more expensive.
3. Supply Chain Delays
Statistics show that as of 2021, the majority of ASOS factories are in China, equating to about 231 locations.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, most Chinese cities remained on lockdown in 2022, affecting ASOS’ supply chain.
When the retailer isn’t receiving items as usual, this affects their ability to make money because they are not selling fast.
The delays affect the overall company costs, which trickle down to the shipping companies and, eventually, customers.
4. If You Are Shipping to a Residential Area
If you are shipping ASOS items to a residential area, home, or apartment address, your costs will increase.
Courier companies like UPS tend to add additional residential fees for such shipments.
These personal delivery options are costly for the shipping company; therefore, you need to consider this element when adding your address.
5. Shipping to Rural Areas
When shipping to a rural area, the shipping costs are higher because these areas are located further from the courier facilities.
ASOS uses companies that have zones to organize the destination packages.
Therefore, if you live away from highly populated zones, your shipping costs are much higher because of the shipping zone pricing.
If you are in a rural location, you need to keep this in mind as you shop on ASOS.
6. Package Sizes
ASOS becomes expensive if you are shipping a large package. Most of the courier services that ASOS goes through use package size to determine the shipping costs.
Note that this is in addition to the distance the package needs to travel and how fast the item needs to be delivered.
These shipping companies calculate the shipping costs by using the dimensional weight.
Therefore, if your package is too heavy or has large dimensions, you’ll pay more when shopping from ASOS.
7. Choice of Delivery Service
ASOS has different delivery methods, including the following:
- Standard delivery
- Next-Day Delivery
- Nominated Day Delivery
- Evening Next-Day
- Click & Collect
- ASOS Instant
Note that all these methods come at different prices. For instance, Next-day delivery might be more costly than Standard delivery because it needs to be faster.
Therefore, if your shipping is time-sensitive or you want it to arrive in less time, you’ll need to pay more for shipping.
8. Shopping Via the App
According to some customers, the prices on the ASOS app are much higher than on the website.
In addition, the customers share that the price is not the same if you change your country on the website.
Therefore, you might get different prices when using the desktop version and when using the app. You can compare prices when shopping if you want to save money.
9. Changes in the Operating Environment
ASOS costs were affected by issues such as Brexit and supply chain issues. When the company costs increase, this affects the prices of their items.
Therefore, if you regularly shop at ASOS, you might spend more on items due to global and regional issues that interfere with operating costs.
10. Customer Demand
Some ASOS items increase the prices if the demand is high.
While ASOS produced clothing in bulk, if the demand for a particular item is high, the cost might go up.
Such price increases are updated based on ASOS’s overall manufacturing and shipping costs.
To learn more, you can also read our posts on ASOS Marketplace, is ASOS in the US, and does ASOS price match.
Conclusion
ASOS is expensive for different reasons, including fees, supply chain issues, and shipping fees.
You might find shopping at ASOS more expensive depending on your shipping destination, delivery surges, the delivery service you’re using, and your package size.
Additionally, shipping costs and fuel charges have increased globally, contributing to an increase in price. ASOS uses different courier companies that are affected by fuel prices. Therefore, this will affect the total price you pay on an item.
