TOPSHOP+BRAND+REPORT

BA (Hons) Writing, Fashion and Culture

Nathalie Yvette Dawe

Fashion Promotion: Brand Report

CONTENTS

1.0Abstract

2.0Introduction

2.1 History of Fashion Promotion

2.2 Theory of Fashion Promotion

2.3 What is PR?

2.4 What is advertising?

3.0 Methodology

3.1 Topshop store visits

3.2 Independent research

3.3 Questionnaire

3.4 Analysis of findings

3.5 Conclusion

4.0 Findings

4.1 Visual Merchandising

4.2 Advertising

4.3 PR

4.4 Marketing and Promotion

5.0 Discussion

5.1Success of Topshops visual merchandising strategies

5.2 Success of Topshops advertising strategies

5.3 Success of Topshop PR

5.4 Success of Topshops marketing and promotional strategies

6.0 Conclusion

7.0 Reference list

8.0 Bibliography

9.0 Appendix

9.1Appendix A - Graphs of questionnaire results.

9.2Appendix B My wish list cards from Topshop

9.3Appendix C We want your views cards from Topshop

1.0The brand report is an analysis of the promotional strategies adopted by the High-

street fashion giants Topshop, throughout autumn/winter 2008.

The report will examine the historical and theoretical perspectives of fashion promotion,

providing identification of current advertising and PR, surrounding the fashion time

Christmas.

The study of visual merchandising, advertising, PR, and marketing; promotional

strategies used by Topshop, during A/W 08 will demonstrate an understanding of

fashion and sales promotion, illustrating how it ties in with all areas of the marketing

mix.

An analysis of research conducted within A/W 08 will be included in the methodology

demonstrating how this report has been produced. Following this the findings section

will describe the visual merchandising, advertising, PR, marketing and promotional

strategies used by Topshop during A/W 08

Using the findings the discussion section will provide a description of the promotional

strategies used by Topshop and a discussion surrounding the success of each strategy.

2.0This section will examine the history of fashion promotion and look at the theory of

promotion, identifying its development, and looking at what has happened as a result of

this.

2.1 Today fashion promotion is a key element to gaining a market for a brand or

product being produced. Advertising, marketing, visual merchandising, and PR are

fundamental to the success of fashion promotion.

The earliest example of a promotional tool is suggested to be the town crier who would

literally call out in the streets the availability of goods or services of a seller (Easey,

1995). However promotion has developed significantly over the years and fashion

promotion is still relatively new.

Today the communication between a high street brand such as Topshop and the

consumer is achieved simply through the straightforward model of communication

(shown below).

SENDER >>> MESSAGE >>> RECEIVER

In relation to fashion, it would normally be identified by the company that a campaign

is needed (Easey, 1995). If the fashion company or store identifies that there is need

for a greater communication with its consumers it will adopt a method from the

promotional mix which is traditionally listed as advertising, sales promotion, public

relations and personal selling (Easey, 1995)

Advertising is possibly the oldest method of promotion to be used successfully in the

media, although half price sales and buy one get one free offers have always existed,

with high-street brands in competition with each other to gain more custom. PR is

suspected as being the most recent form of fashion promotion in the media, as the

world of celebrity has become a key tool to the development of PR in the last decade.

Brands use celebrities by encouraging them to wear their products through gifting

them, which simply means giving them merchandise from the brand free of charge. This

is called a celebrity endorsement, and will feature throughout this report.

2.2 Promotion is the communication with customers about products and services to

create demand and encourage purchases. Fashion promotion is used by high-street

fashion brands such as Topshop to achieve just this.

It is made up of a combination of promotional strategies, consisting of:

Visual Merchandising

Advertising

PR

Marketing and

Promotion

Fashion Promotion is one of the four major elements in the marketing mix in order for it

to be successful an understanding of how promotion, links with product, price, and

place is required.

Stores such as Topshop use the theoretical elements of fashion promotion to create

awareness, convince and remind customers of the benefits of their brand, in a hope to

encourage and stimulate purchases. This report identifies the areas of fashion

promotion, examining the theory adopted by Topshop during autumn/winter 08

2.3PR is an abbreviation for public relations; these are activities which are designed to

build positive relations with the customers, employees and the community. In fashion

marketing public relations (PR) is the most effective method of promotion (Easey,

1995). Although the use of this method can result in good publicity for a store such as

Topshop (Harrison, 1995) suggests that there is no universally accepted definition of

PR (Easey, 1995), Suggesting that the idea of PR is still relatively new to fashion

promotion.

2.4Advertising is any paid form of a non-personal presentation of ideas, goods or

services made by an identified sponsor. Topshop during autumn/winter 08 advertised

in the September and October 2008 issues of Elle Magazine.

In advertising the marketing mix, plays an essential part as it is important to ensure the

advertisement is in the right place to reach the attention of the target customer. Above

the line, paid for advertising in fashion is relatively low in comparison with other

goodswhich probably reflects that the fact that less money is spent by consumers on

fashion than on food, transport, leisure, fuel, housing, etc (Easey 1995).

3.0 In this section I will discuss the methods used to develop the fashion promotion

report.

3.1 A series of visits were made to the same Topshop store during the A/W 08 period.

During each visit, the visual merchandising and promotional strategies being used were

examined. This developed an idea of how frequently Topshop appeared to change its

window display, its layout inside the store and its promotional offers and activates.

3.2 For the purposes of the report research was conducted through the use of text

books, websites, and various media texts such as magazines and newspapers which can

be found in the reference section, bibliography and appendix.

3.3 For the purposes of the report a questionnaire was conducted to identify the

success of the promotional strategies used by Topshop.

The questionnaire consisted of thirteen questions and was put forward to twenty of

Topshops consumers, who were willing to participate in the questionnaire for the

development of this report.

A tally of the results from the questionnaire will also be produced, with graphs also

being included to show the results of the questionnaire more clearly with annotations

explaining what the graphs demonstrate. (Appendix A)

3.4 This section demonstrates the visual merchandising, advertising, PR, promotional

and marketing strategies adopted by Topshop, focusing on the visits made to the store.

3.5 To conclude the report the discussion section examines the worthiness of the

visual merchandising, advertising, PR, marketing and promotional strategies used by

Topshop. Giving a description of each strategy and a discussion to whether or not it was

successful in achieving the aims and objectives of Topshop.

Following this is the overall evaluation, demonstrating a final understanding of the

fashion promotion strategies adopted by Topshop and their success.

4.0 This section demonstrates the visual merchandising, advertising, PR, promotional

and marketing strategies adopted by Topshop.

4.1This section identifies the visual merchandising techniques used in Topshop from

the start of October 2008 until the end of December 2008.

Throughout the A/W 08 period Topshops window display and floor plan in the store,

changed three times, keeping up to date with the A/W 08 catwalk looks.

During the September/October 08 period the window display emphasized colour and

GREAT British Topshop, the inside of the store was also well lit and boasted about the

seasons love of colour, with a neon section. (Appendix C)

The window display changed during October/November 08 emphasizing the NEW Kate

Moss collection, the arrival of Kates new collection also caused changes to be made to

the layout inside the store, bringing Kates collection to the front, making it the first and

last thing shoppers could see. (Appendix D)

During November/December 08 the shop window display and store layout changed for

the final time during the A/W 08 period for the fashion time Christmas. The visual

merchandising in the closed shop window emphasized a winter wonderland; this was

continued inside to promote the trend with four glamorous mannequins situated on an

island display, at the front of the store. (Appendix E)

The changing window display during this period demonstrated the four main looks for

the season display gothic undertones, military styles, brilliant colours and fine knit

(www.albawaba.com). Topshop has a closed window display, meaning customers can

view only the window display and cannot see behind the display and inside the store. As

a result of this it is important for the window display to be eye-catching enough to

encourage consumers passing to enter the store.

Section five of the questionnaire focused on finding out the consumers opinions on the

visual merchandising used Topshop in its window and store displays. The results of the

questionnaire showed that the majority of consumers liked the window displays at the

Topshop store, although a small amount of those who participated in the question said

they only sometimes like the shop window.

The interior display of Topshop features, island displays, giving emphasis to the newest

products and trends in the store, shadow boxes are also used inside the store, mainly in

the American style shoe lounge, creating an expensive and glamorous ambiance.

Topshop also uses eye catching point of purchase displays of sweets to stimulate

impulse buying by consumers.

4.2This section identifies the advertising for Topshop from the beginning of October

2008 until the end of December 2008.

The advertisements for the A/W 08 Topshop campaign featured in the September 08

issue of Elle magazine. A follow up advertisement for the A/W 08 Topshop campaign

was also featured in the October 2008 issue of ELLE magazine. Topshops choice to run

http://www.albawaba.com/

its advertising campaign in a magazine such as ELLE shows the type of fashion conscious

late teens early twenties student they are aiming for with their campaign.

Section four of the questionnaire focuses on asking the consumers of Topshop their

opinions surrounding the A/W 08 advertising campaign. The results demonstrated that

the majority of Topshops consumer market had seen the campaign and felt it was

better than those of other stores.

4.3This section identifies the PR received by Topshop from the start of October 2008

until the end of December 2008.

In Fashion marketing, PR is responsible for ensuring that magazines have merchandise

to feature in fashion shoots, comparative offers and editorial features (Easey 1995)

during the time of this report Topshop are shown to have done this with their celebrity

endorsement Kate Moss.

Topshop also regularly appears on the fashion pages. Features on the latest trends,

often include merchandise from Topshop, one particular feature taken from the

November 2008 issue of Cosmopolitan demonstrates successful PR for Topshop as the

brands products dominate the page, with little merchandise from other high-street

stores featured. As a result of this report it has been discovered that Topshop doesnt

just feature in fashion magazines, but also gains PR from the fashion pages in red top

tabloids such as The Sun and celebrity gossip magazines such as Heat.

4.4This section identifies the marketing and promotional techniques used by Topshop

from the start of October 2008 until the end of December 2008.

Topshops sales promotion This method of promotion revolves around offering a

discount on merchandising (Easey, 1995) Topshops does this by offering 10% discount

to students all year round. Topshops choice to do this demonstrates that they hope to

turn new or occasional shoppers into regular purchasers (Easey 1995).

Previous research demonstrates that due to the seasonal nature of fashion, mid-season

and end-of-season sales are the most frequent methods of sales promotion (Easey,

1995) During the time of this report Topshop adopted this method with a sale for a

short time, where much of the S/S 08 products could be brought at a fraction of the

price they were being sold for in season.

The use of the internet has allowed fashion brands/retailers to establish a presence on

the world wide web prior to a potential future transactional website (Easey, 1995)

Topshop are shown to take advantage of the internet by establishing a newsletter titled

style notes that can be signed up to via the website or by making a purchase on the

website. (Appendix F)

Section 6 of the questionnaire focuses on what the consumers think to the promotional

strategies adopted by Topshop. The promotional strategies of Topshops consumers are

focused in the majority towards students, as a result of the 10% discount offered to

students all year round. The questionnaire asked how the consumers felt about this

method of promotion; the majority claimed that they think the discount is good, this

indicates that the majority of Topshops consumers are students and therefore

benefitting from the student discount. However a significant amount stated that they

felt the discount offered was unfair.

Topshop uses in-store promotion to interact with the consumer, during the Christmas

period Topshop produced My wish list cards which could be filled in by the consumer

with a list of Topshop merchandise, for friends and family to purchase for them.

(Appendix G). Also Topshop during the time of this report encouraged its consumers to

get involved in the store by giving them the opportunity to give their views surrounding

their shopping experience at Topshop. (Appendix H)

5.0 This section examines the worthiness of the promotional strategies used by

Topshop.

5.1One of the aims of this report is to discover if the visual merchandising of Topshop

is successful, having asked consumers Do you feel the appearance of the store (through

its window display) has an impact on your decision to enter the store? it is made

evident that the visual merchandising adopted by Topshop has a great influence on its

consumers as the majority decided that the appearance of Topshop from the outside

can influence their decision to go inside. This demonstrates the importance of visual

merchandising to a high street brand such as Topshop.

However a significant amount of those who participated in the questionnaire suggested

that they would continue to shop in the store despite the appearance of the window

display, this shows that a percentage of Topshops consumers are influenced by other

areas of promotion.

5.2The majority of Topshops consumers that participated in the questionnaire

claimed they have seen the advertisement. This shows that Topshop was successful in

placing its campaign in ELLE magazine as the majority of those asked claim to purchase

the magazine, and therefore see the campaign. The advertising campaign could have

therefore had an influence on their choice to visit Topshop. This could have been as a

result of liking the fashions shown in the advertisements, appreciation of the fact that

ELLE allowed for the advertisement campaign to be run in their magazine, or sheer

curiosity about the brand and its A/W 08 collection.

5.3 Topshop appears to gain much PR from the press, during the time of this report;

the celebrity endorsement of Kate Moss gained much PR for Topshop as a brand. This

emphasizes the success of a celebrity endorsement.

5.4 Topshop adopts many promotional strategies including the style notes which can

be signed up for by consumers and received in an email. This personal contact between

brand and consumer causes the brand to become a part of the consumers live,

establishing loyalty between the brand and consumer as they look at Topshop as a

reliable adviser of fashion and style.

This report aims to assess the success of Topshops promotional techniques having

asked Topshops consumers if they would stop shopping at Topshop if the 10% student

discount was taken away, the majority claimed that it wouldnt affect their decision to

shop in Topshop. This shows that Topshop have established themselves as a strong high

street brand, by drawing consumers into the store with promotional offers.

6.0This section gives an overall evaluation of the success gained from the visual

merchandising, advertising, PR, marketing and promotional strategies used by Topshop.

In conclusion to this report the methods of fashion promotion selected by Topshop

during the A/W 08 fashion time have been justified as being successful. A selection of

research methods were used to conduct this report to investigate the success of the

visual merchandising, advertising, PR, marketing and promotional strategies used by

Topshop.

The promotional aim of Topshop is to get the customers into the store, during the A/W

08 period I feel Topshop have been successful in achieving this through a wide range of

promotional activities conducted by the high street brand.

One of the most important elements to fashion promotion is visual merchandising,

during the time of this report Topshop continued to change the window display of the

store, with the majority of the stores consumers claiming they like the displays

produced in the closed window at Topshop. Personally I also feel Topshop produced

glamorous and eye catching window displays, fitting with one of the store key styles. I

feel this demonstrates an excellent use of visual merchandising.

In conclusion to the importance of visual merchandising the attractiveness of the shop

window is significant because if a store doesnt catch the consumers eye from a closed

window display, then it is unlikely that they will be attracted to the store and become

interested in entering the store. I have identified this in the report as the majority of

those asked claim the appearance of the window display would have an impact on their

decision to enter the store.

However a significant amount of Topshops consumers who participated in the

questionnaire did claim that the window display wouldnt have an impact on their

decision to enter the store. I feel this shows that they are being influenced different

promotional strategies being conducted by Topshop.

Other strategies conducted by Topshop during the A/W 08 period include advertising,

PR, marketing and promotion each of which are important elements to fashion

promotion.

During the time of this report Topshop released its A/W 08 advertising campaign in

ELLE magazine. I feel their choice of placement for the advertisement has been proved

by the report as successful, with the majority of Topshops consumers who participated

in the questionnaire claiming that they had seen the advertisement and they liked it, I

also felt the advertisements were good, showing that you can be glamorous and

fashionable anywhere and at anytime.

The success of Topshops advertising campaign is emphasized by the majority of

consumers claiming they felt it was better than that of other stores. I feel that the

report has demonstrated the importance of advertising to a high-street brand and also

the importance of place for an advertisement. Personally my opinion is that if the

advertisement had been placed in a magazine which isnt as popular as ELLE amongst

fashion conscious women, the advertisement wouldnt have fulfilled its purpose and

reached as many of its target consumer.

Topshop, throughout the A/W 08 fashion time has been successful in achieving much

PR for the brand. PR cannot be paid for, therefore justifying itself as the most successful

form of fashion promotion. Having gained PR from a wide variety of media sources it is

important for Topshop to ensure that the PR they receive is good rather than bad. This

is done by the marketing department of Topshop ensuring magazines are given the

latest merchandise to put into their fashion features. In conclusion to Topshop

successfully receiving good PR it is shown that through providing magazines with the

correct merchandise Topshop as a brand has been able to build a good reputation

within the media and amongst its consumers.

Overall I feel the combination of visual merchandising, advertising, PR, marketing and

promotional strategies adopted by Topshop throughout the A/W 08 fashion time

worked well together to produce successful fashion promotion for Topshop as a brand

on the high-street. I feel the report has demonstrated that it is important for fashion

promotion to include all of these elements for it to be successful in achieving the

promotional aims and objectives of a brand and achieving good PR received from

fashion magazines and the press. Most of all I feel the report has shown that a

combination of the promotional element in fashion promotion works better than

choosing one promotional strategy to promote a brand.

7.0This section gives a list of the books, texts and websites used to construct the

fashion promotion report.

Books

Don Milner, (1995). Advertising and Promotion. London: John Murry (publishers)

LTD.

Gini Stephens Frings. (2005). Fashion from concept to consumer. New Jersey:

Pearson Education, Inc.

Tony Morgan, (2008). Visual Merchandising window and in-store displays for retail.

London: Laurence King Publishing Ltd.

Mike Easey, (1995). Fashion Marketing. Blackwell science Ltd.

Texts

Topshop Advertisement, (2008). Elle Magazine, September 2008.

Topshop Advertisement, (2008). Elle Magazine, October 2008.

Kates hot new Topshop collection (2008). Heat Magazine, 13-19 September 2008.

New Kate range is Moss-ive (2008). The Sun, Tuesday November 4th 2008.

September / October 08 shop window and floor plan.

October / November 08 shop window and floor plan.

November / December 08 shop window and floor plan.

Check mate (November 2008) Cosmopolitan.

Style Notes (2008) Topshop Email

My wish list cards from Topshop

We want your views cards from Topshop

Websites

www.albawaba.com

8.0This section identifies ALL the resources used to construct the fashion promotion

report.

Books

Don Milner, (1995). Advertising and Promotion. London: John Murry (publishers)

LTD.

Gini Stephens Frings. (2005). Fashion from concept to consumer. New Jersey:

Pearson Education, Inc.

Tony Morgan, (2008). Visual Merchandising window and in-store displays for retail.

London: Laurence King Publishing Ltd.

Mike Easey, (1995). Fashion Marketing. Blackwell science Ltd.

Pamela M Phillips, (1996). Fashion Sales Promotion: the selling behind the selling.

Prentice Hall.

Mary Frances Drake, Janice Harrison Spoon, Herbert Greenwald (1992). Retail

fashion promotion and advertising. Macmillan.

Janet Bohdanowicz, (1994). Fashion Marketing. Routledge.

Texts

Topshop Advertisement, (2008). Elle Magazine, September 2008.

Topshop Advertisement, (2008). Elle Magazine, October 2008.

Kates hot new Topshop collection (2008). Heat Magazine, 13-19 September 2008.

New Kate range is Moss-ive (2008). The Sun, Tuesday November 4th 2008.

September / October 08 shop window and floor plan.

October / November 08 shop window and floor plan.

November / December 08 shop window and floor plan.

Check mate (November 2008) Cosmopolitan.

Style Notes (December 2008) Topshop Email

My wish list cards from Topshop

We want your views cards from Topshop

Websites

www.topshop.com

www.fashioninsanity.com

www.myfashionlife.com

www.dailymail.co.uk

www.albawaba.com

http://www.topshop.com/http://www.fashioninsanity.com/http://www.myfashionlife.com/http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

9.1Appendix A - Questionnaire Results.

What gender are you?

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

Female Male

This simply shows that

the majority of those

who participated in the

questionnaire were

female.

How old are you?

10-15 Years

16-24 Years

25-31 Years

32-40 Years

40 + Years

The pie chart shows

that the majority of

those who participated

in the questionnaire

were 16-24 year olds.

This is fitting with the

main target market for

Topshop.

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Student Unemployed Employed

(Full-Time)

Employed

(Part-Time)

Housewife

What is your employment status?

This shows that the

majority of those who

participated in the

questionnaire were

students. This adds

emphasis to the

promotional 10%

discount offered to

students by Topshop

all year.

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Daily Weekly Monthly Never

How often do you visit Topshop?This shows that the

majority of those who

participated in the

questionnaire visit

Topshop on a monthly

basis. With a small

amount admitting that

they visit the store

weekly. This shows

those who participated

in the questionnaire

are familiar with the

store.

Do you read any of the following magazines?

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

Vog

ueElle

Look

Harper

s Baz

aar

Cosm

opolitan

Marie C

laire

Glamou

r

Heat

OK!

Now

Gra

zia

New

This shows that those

who participated in the

questionnaire read the

fashion and gossip

magazines, advertising

Topshop and giving

Topshop PR. This

could explain their

choice to shop at the

store.

Have you ever seen any of these advertisements for Topshop?

Yes

No

This shows that the

majority of those who

participated in the

question have seen the

advertisements for

Topshop. This could

indicate that the

advertisements

featured for the

autumn/winter 08

campaign have an

influence on the

customers choice to

visit the store.

Do you think the advertisments are good, and better than those of

other high-street brands?

Yes, but I haven't seen

advertisements for other stores

No, and I haven't seen

advertisments for other stores

Yes, I think they are better than

other stores

No, I have seen better

advertisments by other stores

This shows that the

majority of those who

participated in the

questionnaire liked the

advertisements by

Topshop. This could

therefore be

influencing their

decision to shop in the

store, despite being

faced by competition

from the other high

street retailers.

0

5

10

15

20

Yes No Sometimes

Do you like the window and store displays produced by

Topshop?This shows that the

majority of those who

participated in the

questionnaire like the

window displays

produced by Topshop,

this is significant

because if a store

doesnt catch the eye

of the consumer from

the outside it is

unlikely that they will

go in.

Do you feel the appearance of the store (through its window

display) has an impact on your decision to enter the store?

Yes

No

Sometimes

This shows that the

majority of those who

participated in the

questionnaire agree

that the visual

merchandising used by

Topshop on the

outside of the store can

affect their decision to

go inside the store.

This shows that the

majority of those who

participated in the

questionnaire feel the

10% discount offered

by Topshop just for

students good.

However a significant

amount feel it is

unfair, indicating that

Topshop may benefit

from offering the

discount to everyone.

GoodBad

Unfair

S10

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

How do you feel about the 10% student discount offered by

Topshop?

From the following, who do you consider to be Topshop direct

competitors?

River Island

Miss Selfridge

Dorothy Perkins

Warehouse

Primark

H & M

New Look

Zara

This shows that

Topshop has a variety

of stores on the high

street which their

consumers consider as

competition for

Topshop. The most

popular stores amongst

the consumers of

Topshop appear to be

Miss Selfridge and

Primark.

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

Yes, all of them Some of them No, none of them are

better

Would you consider any of these stores better than Topshop?

This shows that the

majority of those who

participated in the

questionnaire felt that

some of Topshops

competitors were

better than Topshop.

9.2 Appendix B My wish list cards from Topshop

(NOT INCLUDED IN THIS EXAMPLE PIECE)

9.3 Appendix C We want your views feedback cards from Topshop

(NOT INCLUDED IN THIS EXAMPLE PIECE)