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Intorduction to TOPSHOP
CONTENTS
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Product and Price
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10-11
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Promotion
Place
Physical edvidence and process
People
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List of illustrations
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Figure 2
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INTRODUCTION TOPSHOP Topshop is a British Multinational fashion retailer. Their merchandise consists of clothing, shoes, accessories and makeup. It has over 500 shops worldwide, plus online retailing. It is the only high-street fashion brand to show on schedule at London Fashion Week. Topshop is recognised for its work with celebrities such as Christopher Kane, Alexander McQueen, Kate Moss etc (limited A, G.). This has led the company to gather a mainstream audience through the use of celebrity endorsement. The official target market ranges from the ages 15-30, quoted by the brand manager Jane Shepardson, however, it targets any women that are fashion forward, regardless of their age or income. Topshop aim to create unique looks and styles for their target market, that are wanting to set their own trends. This takes the market out of the mainstream audience as the brand gives their customers the ability to create new, unique styles (Target market – TOPSHOP).
History Topshop was founded in 1964 as Peter Robinson’s Topshop. It was a ‘fashion brand within the Sheffield branch of the Peter Robinson Ltd Chain’ (name, year). In the 1970’s Topshop and Topman entered the high-street as independent retailers. Topman was designed for male customers that are under a separate chain, certain stores are co-located with Topshop (TOPSHOP). The department store has over 300 stores in the UK and ships to more than 100 countries.
Figure 3 4
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Product
with reference to ‘style cues from 1980’s
campaign appearing in 12 photo’s. it was fitting for Topshop to have
youth tribes’ (Morency, 2016) The Top-
such a star represent
shop Unique creative director Kate Phelan
The Topshop range includes numerous products such as clothing, shoes, makeup and accessories. They are sold through different collections such as Mainline, Pre-
has continued exploring the Topshop girl
their brand through
‘art school mix’, the collection features
these images (Torto-
styles with an ‘unexpected mash-up’ of
ra, 2014).
what Phelan sees in ‘todays British girl’
mium, and Boutiques. Topshop’s unique selling point is shown through their enthusiasm of creating individual looks by ‘mixing up styles’ and ‘turning the fashion rulebook on its head! (Limited, A.G). Their use of mainline collections collaborates a mixture of every day wear and evening dresses to provide their target audience with ‘a little bit of everything’. The value of products is represented through the premium lines as the collections are ‘crafted in beautiful products and limited edition designs’, allow-
(Morency, 2016). Collections like this draw
The online article
attention to the target audience, making a
“How high street fashion
clear point that Topshop are an individual
went sky-high” explains how Topshop aims to
brand, creating different looks for young
be part of the ultra-luxury market by selling
women to personalise and style. The prod-
products for extremely high prices. October
ucts value represents their position in ‘high
2015 a dress from TOPSHOP went for sale
street fashion’. Topshop aim to be on top
at £895. This was seen as a shock to con-
of the branch as they continue to ‘headline
sumers as it equals at the same price as high
in nearly every fashion title and broad-
end brands, even though it is being sold in
sheet’ for bringing style to the high street.
a high street. Balmainia is another example
(TERMS, 2005).
of a hyperinflation of the high-street stores increasing their prices as they have become
ing the brand to feel more luxury which is
Price
what the consumers want; valued products for low prices. Topshop
‘no longer recognisable as high-street prices’ Cartner-Morley believes high-street stores are beginning to make Gucci seem affordable
like to believe they are unique as their pieces are consistently ‘worthy of the catwalk’ (Limited A.G). Topshop’s unique selling point involves creating individual looks, ensuring that they are different from other brands. Their Ready to wear Spring 2017 collection Topshop Unique’s Electric Bri-
Representation of price – exotic locations,
(Cartner-Morley, J. 2015).
strategies.
Globally Topshop attract a large amount of
Topshop represents their price of the brand
consumers, increasing their yearly pricing
through their use of advertisement, shot
rates. In 2002 Topshop, Next and GAP, ac-
in striking locations featuring
counted for the biggest share of spends by
well know celebrities and
UK consumers as they attracted between
models. Many of their
68%-71% of consumers. This has led TOP-
campaigns are shot in the
SHOP to follow up a reputation, with their
iconic city London. During
ability to ‘pre-empt the latest catwalk styles
winter 2014-2015 Cara
at affordable prices. (TERMS, 2005).
Delevigne shot a TOPSHOP
tannia represents todays British girl, ‘who is more individualistic than ever before’
Figures 4. 5, 6 6
Figures 7, 8 7
Promotion
Topshop’s most used strategy to promote their brand is through the use of digital platforms such as Facebook and other social media sites. Their website creates opportunities to connect with their target audience as there is a section on the page where you are able to upload a photo of yourself wearing a Topshop product. This allows the brand and the customer to interact with one another, and allow the shopper to become a part of the blogging industry. This connection can be effective as it adds to ‘Topshop’s reputation of being on the ball with modern marketing’ (BRAND STRATEGY). Their use of e-commerce is spread over different social media types such a Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. The UK retailer ‘engages shoppers by establishing itself as an authority of affordable fashion trends’ (WGSN). The brand leads ‘style conversations’ with their online shoppers, encouraging consumer interaction, which consistently enables a link back to the products on their site (WGSN). The use of coupon codes and discounted offers attracts a mass audience as decreasing the prices of products encourages people to spend more money. Topshop uses other formats to promote their brand such as the use of celebrity endorsement. Topshop have worked with many famous celebrities over the years such as Christopher Kane, Jonathan Suanders, Louise Goldin, Alexander McQueen, Kate Moss and many others (name). Beyoncé has become recognised in the TOPSHOP brand due to her release of her own active-wear range named Ivy Park which was released 2016. It has been announced that she will further extend her collections with new products as there an upcoming one in Spring/Summer 2017. Her adverts feature famous faces other than her own, Yara Shadidi, Sophie Koella and Selah Marley are also representing the brand, wearing ‘cut out bodysuits, lace-up sweatshirts, branded hoodies and garters’ (BAUCK, 2017). Figure 9 8
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Place TOPSHOP sits between discount and ultra-luxury within the fashion business by placing itself in the high-street fashion market, selling products for affordable prices for the working class, as well as being on trend and selling products for higher prices. Topshop is regularly competing with other companies such as River Island, Mrs. Selfridge, H&M and Zara. All stores are part of the fast fashion industry and they have the same target customers. Zara is their biggest competitor as their prices are relatively higher than H&M (Competitors – TOPSHOP). Topshop is a multi-channel retailer with over 500 stores worldwide, 300 of them are positioned in the
Physical Environment
United Kingdom. There are stores located all over the world in countries such as Australia, Mexico and the United States. Topshop provide the opportunity to purchase online worldwide as they ship to more than 100 countries (International expansion – TOPSHOP). Majority of the clothing is targeted primarily to young women from the ages 16 to early 30’s that are on trend with their fashion. This places Topshop in the fast fashion market as trend setters.
TOPSHOP’s e-commerce website was launched in 2000. The website is designed to suit their target market. Companies believe that a successful website should be ‘regularly updated and interactive’. It is well organised, easily accessible and designed with easy navigation. Topshop follow this up as their website is updated daily. The company add 300 new products a week to the online page for consumers to purchase. This is simply because of the consistent changes in the fashion industry, Topshop intend on being on top of the line and fashion forward (TOPSHOP). The website layout offers customers to browse easily, the first directed page consistently changes to new advertisement to promote TOPSHOP and inform customers on the current fashion shows that Topshop feature in. The layout of the store is designed to target their consumers filled with quirky mannequins in trendy garments. The store has an easy navigational system as each category such as Petite, Tall, Maternity, Sleepwear and Lingerie are all positioned separately, making it easy for customers with specific needs. The interior layout allows customers to have more space to browse through the different collections (Dennis.L).
Figure 10 11
Process There are a number of operational systems
becomes a job role which can be part of
when the products reach the store. These
everyone’s job in a store. These tasks include
systems are handled by different members
unloading clothing from boxes, putting the
of staff, specific to their job role. Most
stock out on the stop floor and then present-
organisations and companies use similar
ing themselves as helpful members for good
methods when it comes to the workflow of
customer service.
retail processes (Ingram, 2017).
The products sold at Topshop are consumed
Retail store managers handle purchasing
through retail purchase in person, subscrib-
products through specific outlets. Retail
ing to a e-newsletters, using the TOPSHOP
employees take stock the inventory they
app, and purchasing online. These are all
have on hand (Ingram, 2017). Managers
simple and easy ways for customers to
place orders when they reach an ‘optimum
purchase their items and they have a variety
re-order point’ to ensure that their store is
to choose from. It is also easy to return and
fully stocked.
exchanges items bought from Topshop as
Topshop are part of a fast fashion process
customers are able to return products within
so it is expected of them to keep up to
the 28 day policy via in person to the store,
date with oncoming trends. The brand
or there is a choice of sending the item back
naturally looks at the digital revolution as
through post as Topshop offers free returns.
quick as they possibly could. Handling then
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Figure 11
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Statistics
The graph above represents the statistics of insFigure 12
People It is not just the target audience that that are significant to the brand, but the people involved in the promotion, manufacturing and the individuals that play the role in the marketing environment. Customer service role: The responsibility of the customer services role includes representing TOPSHOP as the first point of contact, delivering outstanding customer service via phone calls and email enquiries, processing refunds and exchanges, providing
tagram followers for each of the brands. It shows that Zara has the largest amount of followers, Topshop falling behind. These brands all compete with eachother but it is clear that Zara and Topshop are followed by more of a mass aduience.
tracking details. Manufacturers: Example 1: Example 2: In 2007 the factories that were supplying Sir Phillip Green was currently worth at the time, £5 billion and he paid his Asian workers less than £4 a day to make clothes for the Kate Moss rang for Topshop. They would labour ‘for up to 12 hours a day, 6 days a week’ Promoters: During the beginning of 2017 the event ‘Styling Up Canada’ allowed topshop to gain some promotion - To promote the brand, TOPSHOP teamed up with 6S to showcase launch events and the stylish facets of their brand. They worked with the program and event launched by brand.LIVE Management group which led consumers to explore the digital world. Glamorous videos were spread over different social media sites such as Twitter, Youtube and leading blogs which increased their fans and followers. All this publicity led Topshop’s out come to be immaculate and they were rewarded a ‘social media toolkit’ by 6S at the end of the campaign which provided social media tips (TOPSHOP, 2017).
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Link to website - http://www.topshop.com/?geoip=home
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LIST OF REFERENCES About us (no date) Available at: http://www.topshop.com/en/tsuk/category/about-us-80/home (Accessed: 2 February 2017). Limited, A.G. (no date) Careers. Available at: https://www.arcadiagroup.co.uk/about-us/our-brands/topshop (Accessed: 2 February 2017). Fashion (2016) Topshop unique’s eclectic Britannia. Available at: https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/fashion-show-review/topshop-uniques-eclectic-britannia (Accessed: 6 February 2017). Company information - TOPSHOP (no date) Available at: https://sites.google.com/site/topshopyellowgroup/company-information (Accessed: 6 February 2017). BAUCK, W. (2017) BEYONCÉ AND YARA SHAHIDI STAR IN THE NEW IVY PARK CAMPAIGN. Available at: http://fashionista.com/2017/02/ivy-park-spring-2017campaign (Accessed: 7 February 2017). McMinn, M. (2002) Do I look my age in this? Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2002/oct/13/featuresreview.review (Accessed: 7 February 2017). MORENCY, C. (2016) Topshop unique’s eclectic Britannia. Available at: https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/fashion-show-review/topshop-uniques-eclectic-britannia (Accessed: 7 February 2017). BRAND STRATEGY (no date) Available at: http://topshopdigitalpromotion.weebly.com/brand-strategy.html (Accessed: 7 February 2017). 2014, W. (2014) WGSN. Available at: https://www.wgsn.com/en/micro/trends_reports/2014/social_media_topshop/freereport.html?aliId=108729074 (Accessed: 8 February 2017). Terms (2005) Superbrands case studies: Topshop. Available at: http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/474559/superbrands-case-studies-topshop (Accessed: 8 February 2017). (No Date) Available at: https://www.seek.com.au/job/32733594 (Accessed: 9 February 2017). Tortora, L. (2014) Topshop: The fall winter 2014-15 advertising campaign. Available at: http://www.vogue.it/en/shows/oddities/2014/07/topshop-the-fall-winter-2014-15-adwith-cara-delevingne (Accessed: 12 February 2017). Cartner-Morley, J. (2015) Topshop dress for £895? How high-street fashion went sky-high. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2015/nov/09/topshop-dressfor-895-how-high-street-fashion-went-sky-high (Accessed: 12 February 2017). TOPSHOP (no date) CONTENT. Available at: http://topshopdigitalpromotion.weebly.com/content.html (Accessed: 12 February 2017). Mellor, A. (2014) Store analysis: Topshop. Available at: https://abbeymellorcontour.wordpress.com/2014/12/09/store-analysis-topshop/ (Accessed: 12 February 2017). Dennis, L. (no date) Project: Topshop. Available at: http://www.retail-focus.co.uk/projects/1360-project-topshop (Accessed: 12 February 2017). Ingram, D. (2017) ‘Retail Workflow & operational processes’, Small Business Chron, . Competitors - TOPSHOP (no date) Available at: https://sites.google.com/site/topshopyellowgroup/competitors (Accessed: 14 February 2017). Competitors - TOPSHOP (no date) Available at: https://sites.google.com/site/topshopyellowgroup/competitors (Accessed: 14 February 2017). International expansion - TOPSHOP (no date) Available at: https://sites.google.com/site/topshopyellowgroup/international-expansion (Accessed: 14 February 2017). Fashion target market - TOPSHOP (no date) Available at: https://sites.google.com/site/topshopyellowgroup/fashion-target-market (Accessed: 14 February 2017). LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1 (front cover) - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3200932/Model-moment-Gigi-Hadid-showcases-incredible-physique-sense-fun-new-Topshop-video-campaign.html Figure 2 – http://blog.lenismodelmanagement.co.uk/tag/topshop/ Figure 3 – https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NZSXVZX Figure 4 – Fashion (2016) Topshop unique’s eclectic Britannia. Available at: https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/fashion-show-review/topshop-uniques-eclectic-britannia Figure 5 – http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/news/cara-delevingne-stars-in-topshops-autumnwinter-campaign-9632802.html Figure 6 – Cartner-Morley, J. (2015) Topshop dress for £895? How high-street fashion went sky-high. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2015/nov/09/topshop-dress-for-895-how-high-street-fashion-went-sky-high Figure 7 – https://boldwhiteblog.wordpress.com/2016/03/08/gigi-hadids-best-street-style-looks/ Figure 8 – http://www.eonline.com/news/680301/step-aside-cara-delevingne-gigi-hadid-scores-her-first-topshop-campaign Figure 9 – http://www.buro247.com.au/fashion/news/beyonc-has-launched-an-activewear-line-named-ivy-p.html Figure 10 http://www.10-4inc.com/portfolio/clients/topshop Figure 11 – http://www.buro247.com.au/fashion/news/beyonc-has-launched-an-activewear-line-named-ivy-p.html Figure 12 – - http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/see-inside-kendall-jenners-new-8322986