Kate Bostock quits Asos job just seven months after being wooed by online fashion giant

Jul 17, 2013 By Staff 0

Quit as executive director of product and trading at online fashion giant
Former head of merchandising at M&S started in the post in January
Ms Bostock concluded Asos 'isn't the right place for me'

By Rupert Steiner

PUBLISHED: 04:33 EST, 17 July 2013 | UPDATED: 05:54 EST, 17 July 2013

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One of the most high-profile female figures in British retail has walked away from a top post at online fashion giant Asos after just seven months in the job.

Kate Bostock's shock departure as executive director of product and trading comes after Asos spent a year courting the 56-year-old retail guru - a former head of merchandising at Marks & Spencer who has been described as one of the most influential women in British fashion.

Ms Bostock said in a statement that Asos 'isn't the right place for me', as she stepped down from the Asos board with 'immediate effect'. The firm has insisted she will receive no pay-off or salary in lieu of notice.

Influential: Kate Bostock was previously head of merchandising at rival retailer Marks & Spencer

Influential: Kate Bostock, previously head of merchandising at rival retailer Marks & Spencer, has quit a senior post at Asos

Asos chief executive Nick Robertson said he and Ms Bostock had agreed that Asos is not 'the right platform for her talent'.

The announcement yesterday prompted shares to slip 68p to 4412p.

Ms Bostock - also a veteran of Next and Asda's George clothing range - had been brought in as retail director on an undisclosed salary after Mr Robertson said he wanted to appoint a 'big retail hitter' to take the growing business 'on to the next level'.

Brief stint: Nick Robertson, chief executive of Asos, said he was 'disappointed that things haven't worked out' as Ms Bostock's departure was announced

Her appointment was regarded as a major coup for the online retailer, and Mr Robertston admitted it in his statement he was 'disappointed that things haven't worked out'.

It is not clear what prompted the retail expert's sudden decision to leave the firm, but she insisted she would 'not regret the experience'.

HOW KATE BOSTOCK ROSE TO BECOME ONE OF BRITISH RETAIL'S MOST INFLUENTIAL FIGURES

Kate Bostock's career trajectory has seen her work her way up from a design role at a now defunct knitwear manufacturer in the East Midlands to become a key player at some of the biggest names in British retail.

Fresh out of fashion college in Derby, Bostock secured a position at the now dissolved clothing manufacturer Klynton Davies, before moving on to Bent & Son, party plan firm Pippa Dee and Charnwood Designs.

She joined high street staple Next in 1995, where she would remain as director of kidswear until 2001 when she moved to Asda as product director for the supermarket giant's George clothing brand.

She spent three years at Asda before being hired by Marks & Spencer in 2004, where she rose to become executive director of general merchandise on a package worth almost £1m.

Last July Marks & Spencer reported dismal quarterly figures and announced that Ms Bostock would be leaving as head of clothing as part of a management shake-up. She stepped down from the board in October 2012.

Online retailer Asos set about courting Ms Bostock and she took up a position as director of product and trading in January 2013 in what was widely hailed as a major coup for the firm.

The 56-year-old's latest post came with an undisclosed salary that reportedly represented a cut on what she was earning at rival retailer Marks & Spencer.

On Tuesday, after just seven months at Asos, it was announced that Ms Bostock had quit after agreeing with chief executive Nick Robertson the firm was 'not the right platform for her talent'.

'Asos is a formidable business and I have great respect for the team I have been working with - they are right at the cutting edge of young online fashion,' she said.

'Sadly, I've concluded that Asos isn't the right place for me. I will not regret the experience and I wish Nick and all at Asos continued success.'

She is the third major departure from the firm in recent months.

Product director Robert Bready, credited with helping Asos to expand into a £1.8bn company over seven years, made way for Ms Bostock last year.

More recently international director Jon Kamaluddin quit after nine years. Mr Robertson insists that trading remains unaffected despite the turmoil at boardroom-level.

‘We have a very strong team in place and the business continues to fire on all cylinders,’ he said.

‘Kate and I have agreed that Asos is not the right platform for her talent.’

He said it is undecided whether there is a need to seek a replacement.

In the meantime Ms Bostock's role will be filled by the 'existing, highly successful retail team', Asos said.

Insiders said it was Ms Bostock’s decision to leave, explaining that she had come from a very different environment.

Marks & Spencer is traditional in its approach to retailing and its products are aimed at a broader range of shoppers. Asos, by contrast, is a fast-paced internet retailer aimed at twenty-somethings.

One retail executive said: ‘It was never going to be a marriage made in heaven – she’s hardcore and he’s king of [flying by the seat of his pants].’

In choosing to resign from her post Ms Bostock has forfeit any severance package and her share of a multi-million pound bonus pot set to be shared among Asos managers if they successfully hit their sales targets by 2015.

Following Ms Bostock’s protracted departure, Marks & Spencer had been forced to draft in two executives to turnaround the clothing business which had come off the rails.

Some ranges were said to be failing to keep up with trends and best-selling items ran out of stock.

But there are high hopes for the first collection under the new team, which is about to hit the high street.

FROM OBSCURE INTERNET RETAILER TO THE ULTIMATE ONLINE SHOPPING DESTINATION: THE RISE AND RISE OF ASOS

Back in 2000, a website called As Seen On Screen launched to little fanfare. Marketing copies of clothes worn by famous women to celebrity-obsessed girls, the site was manned by a staff of just three.

Thirteen years and an abbreviated title later, Asos is now a global retail phenomenon that employs staff in Australia, the U.S., France and Germany and attracts in excess of 20million internet shoppers every month.

The website offers fashion-conscious 20 and 30-somethings instant access to thousands of items from a vast array of major brands - along with its own creations following the launch of the Asos Own label for women in 2004.

In 2010 came the launch of Asos Marketplace, a treasure trove of vintage fashion where users can browse the wares of small boutique brands or sell their own creations.

Having well and truly shed its early reputation as a purveyor of rip-off versions of celebrity outfits, Asos is now a one-stop destination for everything from the high street to high end, with River Island or Zara dresses, vintage gems, and premium brands like Current Elliott or Equipment separated by just a few clicks of a mouse.

Having this year opened new international offices in Lille and Munich, the retailer's spectacular growth shows no sign of slowing down. Asos reported a remarkable 45 per cent rise in sales to £194million in the three months to May 31, compared with the same period in 2012.

And while its offering has expanded over the years to include designer diffusion lines and edgier, more expensive brands alongside its high street lines, the retailer's commitment to fast, affordable fashion was evident in its decision to feature items from Primark for a trial period last month.

The decision to team up with the discount clothing store appears to have been welcomed by Asos' ever-expanding customer base, as chief executive Nick Robertson described the response to the Primark trial as 'phenomenal'.

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