UK online fashion giant ASOS is to close its Chinese website, office and distribution centre, serving local customers through ASOS.com instead. The move will give shoppers in the country access to the full ASOS range of 80,000 products, compared to the 6,000 they currently have available.

The retailer said in a statement that the closure of its local operations in China would result in a one-off cost of up to £10 million – the majority of which would be non-cash. It predicted operating losses to closure in the current financial year of around £4 million.

Nick Beighton, ASOS CEO, insisted: “We’ll continue to do business in China. We are simply serving our growing customer base there in a more efficient, less costly manner.”

Next week, ASOS will announce its trading results for the six months to the end of February 2016.

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