Store Visits

Store Visits

This is a list of the observations made in a number of Topshop stores around the country

Compared to another shops:
Topshop- 

• All the mannequins are the same skinny white figure
• All the in store photos are of the same kind of model, Super model skinny, light tone skin

River Island-

• In store pictures include down syndrome models showing thought for diversity and inclusion
• The model range and mannequins was a lot broader in shape colour and size.

This shows that Topshop thinks that the clothes should be worn on skinny, tall model like women not taking into consideration how the clothes look on normal women, whereas in River Island they have included models with disabilities showing that they think about their clothes being worn by normal people, rather than just making clothes to look good for photoshoots.

IVY PARK:

From visiting stores we found that some shops stock Ivy Park whereas in some stores there is no sign of the brand, there is no consistency. This inconsistency could be due to regional diversity, the brand might sell better in some areas more than others meaning it is business savvy to co-ordinate to these sales. 

In the store in Leeds and the store in Meadowhall particularly we found that they stock a lot of Ivy Park, with the brand taking up about a quarter of the clothes section of the store in Leeds, this seems like a lot considering it is a small store. However in a store visited in Rugby there was no Ivy Park in any part of the store.

It came as a shock that there was still this much effort being put into the brand considering the backlash it faced due to labour concerns in 2016 and 2017, this would make me think that the company should reconsider stocking the brand or at least reducing how much attention the brand will receive in store.

Sustainable Clothing:

In a number of the stores visited it was seen that Topshop stock clothing from local vintage shops, some of the brands included in this are BEST vintage and COW vintage, however it is good that they put a bit of consideration into sustainable clothing it looks as if minimal effort is put into this part of the store, with the shops in Leeds, Meadowhall and Birmingham only having one rail stocking these brands, and it is apparent that no thought goes into how this rail looks, with all the clothes just being put on in no order or consideration unlike how the rails throughout the rest of the shop look. I found that in the Leeds store the railing for the vintage shop was placed in a corner behind the escalator, not visible unless you looked for it, this shows that Topshop don't consider this and important part of the shop and it seems as though they just stock it to please people in terms of it looking like the store supports sustainability.

Another thing that makes you think that they don't fully support this part of the shop is that the items are always overpriced with some t shirts costing up to £40 and they are the only non-returnable clothing items they stock (apart from underwear), both these things together would put the customer off buying from this section rather than encourage it.

Store displays:

In a few of the stores it was asked how often displays such as windows and in store displays were changed as this could affect sales as trends change. It was found that displays are changed at least once a week. It was also found out in the Rugby store that the stores will go as far as to change the displays due to weather, for example if it had been raining for a few days they will change the window displays to outerwear, opposingly if it has been sunny they will put lighter, more summery clothes in the displays. This shows a good understanding of the market and that they are considering the needs of the consumer in a business mindset, seeing what the consumer needs and a way to boost sales.

Another thing noticed about store displays is to do with concession stands. It has been noticed that depending on the time of year the size of concession stands will change based on trends at the time and what the market consists of at the time, an example of this is the brand Gypsy Shrine, during summer seasons and festival season there is a noticeably larger concession stand than say during winter, this because the brand sees the consumers needs and adapts accordingly.