Asos to shut US warehouse amid turnaround efforts

Online fashion firm Asos has revealed plans to close its US warehouse in Georgia as part of an ongoing turnaround.

The group said it will “mothball” its distribution centre in Atlanta and sell the site, instead handling US orders from its warehouse in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, as well as a smaller, “more flexible” local site in the US.

The move will impact seven staff directly employed by Asos in the US and “several hundred” employed by logistics partners.

It will look to offer affected US employees alternative roles where possible, while third-party logistics firms will “make efforts” to redeploy workers to nearby sites, according to the group.

Asos said: “Having successfully transformed the US into a profitable market over 2023-24, Asos sees further opportunity to re-invest in the areas that matter most to its customers by optimising its global distribution model.”

The group added the changes will “offer Asos’s US customers an enhanced product offering, including a broader assortment and faster speed to market of the best and most exciting product, while offering competitive delivery speeds and lowering the total fulfilment cost per order”.

Asos stressed it will continue to “grow and build” its presence in the US, having opened a local office last year.

“Asos remains excited about the opportunity in the US market and believes that its new operating model will better serve its US customer base, while generating a better return on investment,” it said.

The group expects a £10 million to £20 million benefit to pre-tax earnings from 2025-26 as a result of the warehouse changes, although it will take a £190 million impairment in 2024-25.

Shares in Asos lifted 4% on Wednesday morning.

Asos boss Jose Antonio Ramos Calamonte is leading a major turnaround programme, designed to return it to profitability and halt a recent sales slump.

In November, the group revealed it slumped deeper into the red with pre-tax losses of £379.3 million for the year to September 1, against losses of £296.7 million the previous year.

It revealed the challenges of battling to clear a £1.1 billion stock mountain since 2022, with £520 million still outstanding and about a £100 million write-down on the value of its remaining stock.

The firm also reported a worse-than-expected 16% plunge in sales to £2.9 billion over the year, but the chief executive stressed Asos was seeing “green shoots” start to
appear from its overhaul process.