TopShop knows how to create buzz. Whether you have an interest in fashion or not I can pretty much guarantee that you know about Kate’s recent range for them. See, I don’t even have to mention her surname for you to know who and what I’m talking about. And despite the aforementioned going on sale at the start of May, there’s still hype, still discussion going on. I’m getting more Google blog alerts for ‘TopShop’ a day than I’m getting for ‘Vodafone’ and ‘mobile phones’ combined and the vast majority of these focus on Kate Moss for TopShop. A PR campaign well done, evidence of how information seeded in the right place spreads like wildfire and can have real longevity.
They’re not stupid over there. They’ll know that over 88% of women use the internet daily, with clothes shopping the biggest area of interest. And they’ll know that 60% of women default to their peers for an opinion on what to buy. They know the potential of online communities for their business.
Indeed TopShop.com already gets twice as much traffic from MySpace than from MSN and Yahoo combined - 5% vs 2.5% - and this is a figure up five-fold year on year. I went to MySpace to have a look at the blog page that TopShop’s set up, and wouldn’t have guessed in a million years it was their official blog page - it really does feel as though it’s been put together by some bright-eyed bushy-tailed 20-something. I was surprised by the 5% traffic statistic as there’s only 4,846 TopShop friends listed (may be they’re really avid shoppers) and even more surprised that most of the notice board contained ads/promotions for other places/products and events (as well as somewhat bemused, TopShop riding on Kate’s name, others riding on TopShop’s).
When monitoring online blogs and chat rooms I did notice quite an interesting phenomenon that suggests that TopShop really does have its ear to the ground. There was a conversation thread a couple of weeks ago about the fact that wouldn’t it be great if TopShop had a widget that you could sit on your desktop that delivered the latest styles enabled you to click through and buy. Hey presto, today another blog tells me TopShop now has a widget I can down load. Similarly there was quite a lot of blogs/online debate around the social responsibility of shoppers (particularly around the time of the Anya Hindmarsh bag), and a lot of people were debating the merits of swap shops online, jumble sales etc. Within days TopShop announced that they’ll be holding charity fashion sales where people set up their own stalls. TopShop is listening, and more importantly, responding.
It seems that the strategy that helped reinvigorate the brand during the 90s is being employed once again to ensure that TopShop stays on top. At the heart of TopShop’s success is its responsiveness to the current mood/vibe on the street, turning catwalk to high street within days. Now if you want to know what’s going on, what people think of you, you go online. And TopShop get this. So all in all, TopShop are doing pretty well on the online buzz front, but if I was to get stuck in a lift with Mr Green and he asked me where I thought the opportunities and issues were for TopShop based on what I’d heard I’d go for:
1) The Kate conversations are getting boring. It’s time to get people excited about something else.
2) TopShop is more than a clothes store. It’s a barometer of cool. But this reputation is harder to protect online - people seem to get confused more easily about what’s ‘endorsed’ and what’s not.
3) Girls want reassurance that they’re making the right fashion choices. They constantly ask for others opinions, friends, strangers, anyone who will listen. Throw some personal shoppers out into the virtual world, make them THE place to go for advice
4) The boys aren’t talking. Which means there’s a whole untapped side to the TopShop brand.
5) Make Matt on the till in the Oxford Street store more prominent. Apparently he’s a real draw and girls make several different purchases in one trip for more chances to say hello…
