ASOS has been named as the the country‘s most reputable fashion retailer, according to a UK RepTrak list published today.
Rounding out the top three are Laura Ashley and Debenhams, followed by Marks & Spencer and Next in fourth and fifth place respectively.
The UK RepTrak list, which ranked high street retailers‘ reputations among the general public, is compiled by the Reputation Institute and based on almost 5000 interviews.
The list measures a company‘s ability to deliver on stakeholder expectations across seven key areas: products and services, innovation, workplace, governance, citizenship, leadership and performance.
Companies are then ranked on a score from 0-100 based on their overall reputation, and categorised as Excellent (80 and over), Strong (70-79), Average (60-69), Weak (40-59) or Poor (below 40).
The 2016 rankings for high-street fashion retailers operating in the UK stand as below:
While the perception of fashion retailers among the UK general public is quite positive, ASOS is the only one grouped under Excellent with a strong performance across the seven dimensions of reputation.
“It is intriguing that an online-only retailer has achieved a stronger reputation than the old high-street favourites,” Reputation Institute executive partner Kasper Ulf Nielsen said.
“This not only reflects the shift in shopping habits of the UK general public, but it also underlines the point that you can build a high degree of trust, respect, and admiration without the face to face experience.
“With only one retailer breaking through the ‘excellent‘ barrier, many within the sector need to do more to cement and build upon their reputations.”
The news comes less than 24 hours after Labour leadership candidate Owen Smith called for a parliamentary inquiry into ASOS‘ working practices at their Barnsley warehouse.
ASOS has since disputed the claims made by Smith and the GMB union, and invited Smith to visit its warehouse.
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