ASOS strives to be UK's most successful website

ASOS, the As Seen On Screen online retailer, is determined to overtake high street and catalogue retailer Next to become the biggest  fashion website in Britain within the next two to three years.

A trading statement this week is expected to reveal that the web retailer enjoyed sales growth of about 90% over the summer, despite the credit crunch.

Nick Robertson, who launched Asos (As Seen on Screen) a decade ago, said that in time the business - which is second to Next in the online fashion world and sells clothes modelled on those worn by celebrities such as David Beckham and Sienna Miller - would dominate the market.

Robertson told The Times: "The opportunity still exists for someone to be the dominant player in the fashion space. It will be Asos and it should be Asos.

"Our goal is to overtake Next in terms of traffic and we are increasingly nudging towards that."

The Asos share of the online clothing market is now almost 5%, placing it above Topshop and New Look. Next claims a 7% share.

Robertson added that consumers of all ages were becoming more used to shopping online: "The barriers that were there, things like wanting to try something on before buying, seem to be disappearing by the day," as reported WGSN in Tuesday's bulletin.