Topshop & Retail Buying

Segment of the industry

Topshop is a well-known British retailer brand owned by Arcadia group. I think Topshop segments its market by age, income and also psychographic and lifestyle as a young, affordable and fashion brand.

Retail Format / Online or multi-channel outlets

Topshop uses different retail formats including its stand-alone retail stores chain, stores in shopping malls including Nordstrom and Selfridges etc, pop up stores and also its online e-shop which ships to over 100 countries globally.

Type of products sold and product lines

Topshop specialized in different product types including clothing, shoes, bags, accessories and beauty products. Topshop also different product lines including Topshop’s mainline, premium line, Topshop Unique, Topshop Boutique, collaborated designer collections and also emerge brand chosen by buyers.

Store image

Topshop has a fashion forward and accessibility store image, that it attracts style-conscious customers from students, professional to fashion bloggers and celebrities.

Buying strategy positioned

As a fashion forward brand, Topshop’s buying strategy is to bring up-to-the-minute fashion products which required a market orientated fast buying cycle.

Target Market

Topshop’s target market for women is probably between ages 15-35 years old who are fashion conscious and also a budget buyer.

Gross Margin & Sales result

I am unable to find out the stand-alone result for Topshop as the company is private owned. The only data available is the sales result for Topshop’s parent company, Arcadia Group (group). The group recorded 2015 sales revenue of GBP 2,069.3m (c.USD2,937.6m) and 2014 sales revenue of GBP 2,032.9m (c.USD2885.9m). The 2015 sales revenue increased by USD51.7m, 1.8% of increase y-o-y comparing to 2014.

Evaluate and explain what the retailer is doing right or wrong in terms of positioning, image, target market.

Topshop differentiated itself with a clear brand image of a trendy, up-to-the-minute...