THE PHYSICAL AND DIGITAL LOCATIONS OF TOPSHOP

I have shopped at Topshop ever since I was little. Topshop’s recipe for fashionable, affordable and quality clothing, entices me back time and time again. It appears I am not alone here – Topshop’s inherently stylish image, innovative approach and unique offering, has fuelled its monumental financial success (Campaign, 2005). Arcadia (no date) boasts 620 Topshop stores worldwide and Topshop’s vast digital presence, with 4.5 million (on average) visitors a week. Thus, strength in numbers theory presents Topshop as an organisation able to effectively manage both physical and digital locations.

An effective shopping experience enhances the commercial ability to satisfy consumer need and acquire competitive advantage (Cachero-Martinez and Vázquez-Casillas, 2018). Furthermore, physical stores offer ‘ambience, gratification, experience of touch and feel’ to consumers (Misra, Baranwal & Jha, 2017, p.133) – all of which contribute to shopping experience. Topshop’s Oxford Circus (‘TOC’) location (pictured below) is a prime example of a unique shopping experience, which is ‘more than just a store’ (Topshop, no date, A). Spread over 100,000 square feet, TOC welcomes 400,000 visitors a week (Arcadia, no date). On my recent visit, I was in awe of the store’s size, sophisticated layout, lively atmosphere (e.g. in store DJ) and offering (e.g. clothing, accessories, cupcakes and personal shopping.). Assuming that TOC’s popularity, translates to organisational goals, Topshop appear to capitalise a valuable physical location opportunity. Naturally, my local store did not compare to TOC. Regardless its layout, atmosphere and offering still made for a pleasant experience.

However, Topshop’s physical stores likely generate considerable waste. The environmental scrutiny of fast fashion retailers from academia (e.g. Joung, 2014) (of which Topshop is arguably one), places waste as an increasingly relevant issue for Topshop. In addition, Topshop’s scale of physical operation infers significant cost – potentially worsened by the recent retail wage increase (Morrison, 2018). Justifying said cost may be challenging, given the deterioration of high street shopping, in favour of fashion e-commerce which is rife with competition (Cartner-Morley, 2019). One particular trend, known as ‘showrooming’, sees customers going to physical stores to attain product knowledge, afterwards purchasing products for less online (Kuksov & Liao, 2018). In contrast, the e-commerce route presents opportunities for widespread cost reduction (e.g. human resource) (Kikovska-Georgievska (2013). Assuming Topshop’s online store (‘www.topshop.com’) has afforded similar cost reductions, the value of this digital location can be clearly argued. However, cost reductions may be lessened or offset by the increasing cost of its physical locations, digital personnel and digital infrastructure.

Primarily, e-commerce provides consumers with convenience – convenience relating to time, stress, price comparison and the international accessibility of products (Sethi & Sethi, 2016), which in turn, increases organisational reach.  www.topshop.com offers a vast selection of products (with delivery), customer service options, general product information and ‘about [Topshop]’ information (Topshop, no date, B). Having ordered from www.topshop.com before, I found the website easy to follow, the product offering immense (if not overwhelming) and the next day delivery convenient. Naturally,  www.topshop.com is unable to offer the aforementioned benefits of physical presence (e.g. touch) or physical experience. Nonetheless, in my opinion, it offers an alternate unique experience, comprised of store navigation, purchase process and engaging content (e.g. the ‘inspiration’ page (Topshop, no date, C)).

The use of digital media, in conjunction with traditional media, has enabled organisations ‘to drive sales and build brands in ways never before possible’ (Keller, 2016, p.286). Topshop communicate via a wealth of digital media platforms, for example the Topshop App, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Youtube. Its digital success is highlighted by Stevens (2017) who claims that ‘Topshop has the biggest social media presence in the UK’. The video below showcases a style and tone used on Topshop’s Youtube page (Topshop, 2018).

However, digital media necessitates careful brand management (Quinton, 2013). In particular, having encouraged an ‘extremity bias’, user generated content (‘UGC’) presents potential challenges to brands (Bigley & Leonhardt, 2018, p.125). Topshop appear to have mitigated the treat of negative UGC, via their means of digital customer service and customer interaction, for example their ‘Topshop Help’ Twitter page (Topshop Help, 2018). Furthermore, the informative value of UGC should not be overlooked (Kwark, Chen & Raghunathan, 2018). Given that Topshop have 9.6 million followers and over 6, 000 posts on Instagram alone (Topshop, no date D), it appears to have plentiful source of UGC.

Ultimately, Topshop appear to benefit from a hybrid of physical and digital locations – capitalising the opportunities and mitigating the threats of both. In this sense, it seems only natural that Topshop show signs of digital and physical integration, for example the ‘collect from store’ service (Topshop, no date, E).

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