Upload
carrie-chang
View
213
Download
0
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
The main content is about primary research and questionnaire analysis.
Citation preview
thesis-1.indd 32 2011/7/5 5:06:27 PM
thesis-1.indd 33 2011/7/5 5:06:43 PM
thesis-1.indd 34 2011/7/5 5:06:57 PM
35
5.1 The Influence of JapaneseDesign on the Taiwanese Market
5.1.1 How different of clothing style between
Japan and Europe:
During recent years, Taiwanese fashion
t rend has been deeply a f fected by the
Japanese culture and fashion style. There are
many reasonslocation, fashion magazine, TV
programme, advertisement and media. And the
most important, Taiwanese body shape is almost
the same as Japanese’s; therefore Japanese
design does quite fit Taiwanese girls. Fashion in
Japan has its own characteristic style, especially
in Tokyo, which is the capital city in Japan; there
are many high street brands and fashionable
people around the entire city. Indeed, in fashion
show worldwide, Japanese designer , artist and
clothing always attract people’s attention, such
as Rei Kawakubo , Takashi Murakami and Issey
Miyake (see appendix4). The main difference of
clothing style between Japan and Europe, are
shape and fit, and use of colours.
Figure 20
Figure 23
Figure 21
Figure 24
Figure 22
Figure 25
thesis-1.indd 35 2011/7/5 5:07:18 PM
36
5.1.2 How do Japanese girls dress?
Fashion In Japan have their characteristic
style, especially in Tokyo which is the capital
city in Japan, there are many high street brands
and fashionable people around all the city.
Indeed, in fashion show worldwide, Japanese
designer,artist and clothing always attract
people’s attention, such as Rei Kawakubo,Takashi
Murakami and Issey Mitake. The most different
of clothing style between Japan and Europe,
which is shape and fit, and colour using.
However, according to some news reported*,
we can know some British brands have enter
Japanese market, such as Ted Baker, TOPSHOP
etc. In Japan, there are two TOPSHOP stores
in Japanese capital city-Tokyo, “one of store of
TOPSHOP just next to H&M and both of them
located in primary and the largest shopping
centre in Tokyo” ( Japanconsuming, 2009)”, it
is strongly showing how Japanese people love
using Europe high street brands.
Nevertheless, as some Japanese fashion
image, we can observe they are similar with
Europe fashion, likes below:
From these pictures, people can understand
there are not totally different between Japanese
and British fashion style, it is an analyse for how
different of them by many aspects:
Figure 26
Figure 27
Figure 29
Figure 31
Figure 30
Figure 28
thesis-1.indd 36 2011/7/5 5:07:37 PM
37
People can observe some different between
JP style and Europe style, and Taiwanese prefer
JP clothing style. The key point I think that is
Japanese body shape is similar with Taiwanese
people. And fashion trend in Japan have their
unique style compared with Europe. As some
fashion illustrations, Japanese clothing shows
some image message—clean, simple, adorable and
sweet-natured. They love to use some colour likes
pink, sky blue or grass green. On the contrary, they
use less red, orange colour, purple or skin colour.
In design style, indeed I think pattern is not
really different between JP and Europe. Some
pictures can tell us, some particular pattern is similar
and dressing style as well. However, Asia people’s
body shape is shorter compared with European.
That is why some clothes are the same but have
different outcome by different people’s wearing.
Finally, different atmosphere is a point. Most
of clothing advertisement in TV or magazines,
it all shows an atmosphere—warm, lovely and
creative. The image they want to convey is not
quite tough and bold.
5. 2 SWOT COMPARISONS- TOPSHOP SWOT in UK
• Strengths
Compared with other UK brands, no doubt
TOPSHOP is symbolic fashion brand and gives a
strong performance in Arcadia Group.
Aspect / Similar
or DifferentSimilar Different
Pattern • Vintage illustration• Colourful
• Japanese fashion u s e t o o m u c h English words as a topic in t-shirt
• Their pattern style a l w a y s p r e f e r adorable image.
Colour • Brave to use fancy colour
• J a p a n e s e s t y l e sometimes prefer simple but adorable, they can only put single fancy colour in a dress, such as if someone is already wears pink jacket, she won’t add other fancy colour into dress.
• the British people is always brave to put many colour into one dress which showing a vintage image.
* (think this point should connect with people’s co lour of sk in , and different facial features. Indeed, people sti l l cannot use colour very bo ld in c loth ing in Eastern fashion. )
Colour • B o t h o f E u r o p e p e o p l e a n d Japanese quite love wearing hat and always use it well, they love to use hat head ornaments do some style.
• J a p a n e s e s t y l e d o n o t t o o m u c h accessories such as , rings, earringsscarf (but they have types of scarf to in Winter, they are not often use scarf accessories in other seasons.) JP style is quite adorable but simple.
thesis-1.indd 37 2011/7/5 5:07:51 PM
38
The TOPSHOP brand targets the younger
consumer and the focus on this sector has made
economic sense. While older consumers, likely to
be more cautious and burdened with mortgages,
have cut back, the shopping habits of the
younger end of the market were impacted less
by the recession – younger consumers carried on
spending.
Investment in the TOPSHOP/TOPMAN chain
has successfully cultivated an image of ephemeral,
contemporary fashion and an indulgent, youthful
shopping experience. International media
attention and unsolicited celebrity endorsements
have seen the brand develop something of a cult
following outside its domestic market – something
that other high street brands can only dream of.
The opening of new stores in glamorous districts
such as SOHO in New York and Knightsbridge in
London (as well as Liverpool) with showbiz parties
and events such as the ‘TOPMAN Ctrl’ student
music tour have added to the brand’s zeitgeist-y
image. (Clothing Retailing - UK - October 2010,
Mintel2010)
Moreover, the habits of younger shoppers
have been less affected by the economic
conditions, which is likely to have helped
contribute to the record turnover posted by
TOPSHOP, TOPMAN and Miss Selfr idge.
TOPSHOP and TOPMAN have probably also
benefited from a number of store openings
globally and store refurbishments.
Being part of Arcadia is a strength, no matter
in the past or now, Arcadia Group is keeping an
excellent performance in fashion retailer. “I am
pleased to be able to report operating profit for
the group of £279.6m, up 10%, and excellent cash
generation of £386.2m, up £43m on last year. I
believe this to be a good performance in what
was a competitive and challenging year.’’ Sir Philip
Green have commented on the announcement
(Mintel, 2010).
It is obvious that TOPSHOP is a very
important investment for Philip Green, he said
’’Our leading fashion brands TOPSHOP and
TOPMAN have again had a strong year producing
record turnover and profit. Indeed, At the other
end of the spectrum from Bhs, Arcadia’s second
focus of investment has been the TOPSHOP and
TOPMAN brands. In 2009 and 2010, a number of
new stores were opened, including flagships in
New York and Tokyo. The New York store was
Arcadia’s first directly-owned overseas store. 8.0
7.0
6.0
5.0
4.0
3.0
2.0
1.0
0.0
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
[%]
6.66.3 6.3 6.56.4
Figure: X 2009’s market share figures have been boosted by the inclusion of Bhs sales data for July–August. Sales are believed to have been strongest at TOPSHOP-TOPMAN and Miss Selfridge. Bhs, meanwhile, saw sales fall by around 7% for the year.
thesis-1.indd 38 2011/7/5 5:08:06 PM
39
For customer in high street, TOPSHOP has
hit-the-trend styles, in clothing, they almost have
new collection every week; in accessorize, their
design style also have original idea as well as
clothing. Their dressing style is an icon in modern
teenager society. Moreover, they have over 300
stores in UK and 100 overseas which increased
competitive edge on the international retail
market. They set up a strong image and market
position in fashion field in UK, of course some of
influence was from famous spokesman such as
Kate Moss. In price, they have choices at multiple
price points for different choices of styles and
qualities, people can just spend a little money
to buy some basic t-shire or choose a luxurious
dress which costs a big money. In addition, they
offer student discount, this is quite good for a
majority of their target market. Besides, the most
surprised point compared with other Europe
fashion brands which is TOPSHOP has many
sections-salon, nails beauty, café’ and a lot of
fashion magazines, customers can spend whole
day in the store.
• Weaknesses
How TOPSHOP works must depends on their
company - Arcadia Group. There is an online
SWOT analysis which talked about TOPSHOP’s
company-Arcadia Group, by it, people can
know more about Arcadia’s structure and how
Arcadia’s business strategy is.
From this SWOT analysis (docstoc, AUG
2010), people can know that Arcadia Group is
a privately owned company, compared with
public company, the biggest different between
the two types of companies which is private
company is not required to disclose their
financial information to anyone since they do
not trade stock on a stock exchange. Moreover,
the main advantage to private companies is
that management doesn't have to answer to
stockholders and isn't required to file disclosure
statements with the SEC. However, a private
company can't dip into the public capital markets
and must therefore turn to private funding,
which can boost the cost of capital and may limit
expansion. It has been said often that private
companies seek to minimize the tax bite, while
public companies seek to increase profits for
shareholders. (Investopedia, 2006)
Besides, in store aspects, there are many
kinds of items in the stores-it should be a
problem for manage, especially numerous lines
Strengths- Effective sourcing strategy- Wide range of products
under world class brands
Weakness- Absence in Manufacturing- Privately owned company
Opportunities- E m e r g i n g m a r k e t s
p r o v i d i n g l a d d e r f o r growth
- Internet retailing
Strengths- E c o n o m i c s l o w d o w n
Europe- Intense competition
thesis-1.indd 39 2011/7/5 5:08:23 PM
40
TOPSHOP becomes popular in international
fashion field. Moreover, TOPSHOP is a good stage
showing new fashion designers to present their
works such as some small exclusive collections.
In the other hand, they create a multi-style but
mix and match into this brand.
• Threats
UK Economic Climate:
To be honest, in current global economic
climate, it is a difficult period to expand
international market. The truth is, Britain has
emerged from the recession but is faced with
a long and lingering period of uncertainty.
Consumers remain wary about the future, and this
is reflected in spending habits and attitudes about
what is 'essential'. With further cuts ahead, the
general mindset is one of caution, with the biggest
question of all being 'what next?' However, there
is positivity too - people seemed to have moved
away from the fear that pervaded much of the two
years during 2009-2010.
British Lifestyles 2010 examines a society in
flux, looking at socio-demographic shifts, market
sizes and forecasts, who were hit hardest by
the economic downturn, and how people have
reacted to their changing circumstances - for
better or worse.
Here are some examples of things people
might be concerned about:
of products, big store space and big number
of staffs, it might be cost a lot in management.
In other hand, it is difficult to control average
quality of their products due to they have too
many types of item, of course they have no
personal services and staff almost unhelpful.
Furthermore, their website shopping function
is too weak-no detail and size for accessorises,
customers are difficult to get the right images of
them, clothing have no real people showing how
the dress look like as well, for example, ASOS
have catwalk to show how a dress looks when
somebody wear it.
• Opportunities
For current Taiwanese fashion sense, it is a
good time to expand TOPSHOP’s international
market here, this is a period is in developing and
enlarge Taiwanese fashion field. During recent
years, many Japanese and American brands
go to Taiwan step by step, moreover, as news
reported, the Europe brands – ZARA and H&M
will go to Taiwanese market in the end of 2011.
Therefore, this is a quite key time to decide
should TOPSHOP go to Taiwan again.
TOPSHOP has some international expansion
opportunities with its mature market position
and status among consumers in the UK and
worldwide. Also, TOPSHOP in Japan have a great
performance since they have been to there in the
first time in 2008. Following fast fashion trend,
thesis-1.indd 40 2011/7/5 5:08:40 PM
thesis-1.indd 41 2011/7/5 5:08:55 PM
42
many choices for people to choose from, they
do not need to pay their attention to only one
brand. With fashion brands increasing day by
day, customers are the only winners. As well as
brands in competition, there is competition from
cheaper fashion as well, like Primark, Peacocks,
TK Maxx and also online shopping website such
as ASOS.
People normally prefer to spend less money
so when they face two products which are
quite similar, the cheaper one always wins. For
example, if people want to buy a fashionable
tops or jacket, they would go to Primark due to
their varying styles and of the very low price.
Moreover, if people want to buy shoes, they
might choose TK Maxx due to their special
outlet collections; people can find good shoes
but maybe pay half of price. Some people might
simply choose to shop online, they might surf on
ASOS.com to skim over all the latest trend and
pay using their credit cards. Shopping online
means you don’t have to go out yourself, just pay
the delivery costs and your products will arrive
within days.
The competition between brands is a price
war as well. The threats from price wars do
not come from other fashion competitors alone,
however, but from many other factors as well.
Today, people may choose to spend more on
mobile phones like the IPod or the IPad and
other gadgets, or on leisure such as eating out
or on dating. This is a modern phenomenon
symbolizing that people are stepping towards
better living quality. They use high- level 3C
products, eating in Michelin restaurants, spend a
lot house renovations etc etc. People care about
all of the things in their life, and fashion is just
one of those many things.
-TOPSHOP SWOT in Taiwan
• Strengths
Fast fashion is growing quickly in recent
years in Taiwan, and many foreign brands have
entered the Taiwanese fashion field, either
through shops located in department stores or
stand-alone stores on the high street such as the
Japanese brand UNIQLO, the Swedish H&M and
American retailer MOUSSY. As Taiwanese online
Figure 36
Figure 37
Figure 38
thesis-1.indd 42 2011/7/5 5:09:14 PM
43
shopping website shows, TOPSHOP is a popular
search word, when people type the key word –
“TOPSHOP”, the websites will show many items
which is somebody bought from TOPSHOP or
second hand products. The most popular sells
online for TOPSHOP are tops, coats and dresses.
Moreover, some customers who know
TOPSHOP for a long time will spend a lot of money
buying from TOPSHOP’s website in the UK, even
though it costs more due to the delivery fee from
UK. This shows there is already brand recognition
in Taiwan and some consumers have motivation
to buy it. In addition, fashion style is now quite
similar among UK, Japan and Taiwan. Most of girls
love wearing legging, short pants and add more
colourful item on their dresses. People start to care
about how fashionable clothing looks, this is more
important than it being cheap but without design
style. However, TOPSHOP is not too expensive
compared to designer brands.
Besides of it, in economic aspect, there are
more young girls with disposable income can
spend lots of money on fashion. For adult, there
are more and more single groups increasing in
Taiwanese society. The characteristic of them is
they have excellent ability and earn a big money
by themselves. They care about living quality
so they would spend a lot on house ware and
clothing. In this kind of women, most of them
have unique thinking and independent view of
point. That is a life style which is quite match
with TOPSHOP’s spirit.
In the other hand, there is the other group
who has capability to shopping though they have
no job, this group is student. According some
news, there are less and less couples are willing to
have too many babies, fertility rate is decreasing
year by year, many couples just want to have
only one baby because of harder economics. In
the past, people did not spend too much time or
money on entertainment, they paid their attention
on work, keeping a family relationship and have
a simple life, most of them would think there are
more babies in a family is a better way. However,
this is a quite different situation compared with
now. Currently, there are so many things need to
handle with, such as eating out, watching movies,
clubbing or something funny can kill time else,
in addition people still need to spend money on
buying house, keep a living quality standard. They
do not want have too many babies however they
would rather have only one baby and gives him/
her a good life.
For this reason, some of teenager has enough
money to spend in fashion. Moreover, if TOPSHOP
have idea to enter Taiwan again, they are lucky
to have a previous experience to improve their
marketing strategy and make it better. Due
to their previous experience, they can collect
customer’s thoughts or do some market research
to know why they worked not well before. This
is a good chance to see the customer’s reflection
thesis-1.indd 43 2011/7/5 5:09:28 PM
44
to know what problem was. It will be a precious
opportunity as when brand want to enter a new
market, they always have no idea what crisis will
be and how to against that. Although TOPSHOP
was failed before, nevertheless they have a huge
possibility can be successful this time.
Furthermore, there are no brands in Taiwan
which has all kinds of products includes clothes,
accessorises, shoes, underwear and nail shop in
Taiwanese local market. It is a huge possibility
that TOPSHOP can be successful due to its
multiple product lines. Also, TOPSHOP have their
own magazine, fashion magazine sells quite well
in Taiwan especially for teenager and office lady.
It will gives Taiwanese people a fresh shopping
experiences.
• Weaknesses
TOPSHOP was failed in Taiwan during 2000-
2002, which means if they will go to Taiwan
again that would become a quite seriously
challenge. They have already withdrawn once, it
is symbolize there is impossible to be fail again.
However, there is a big change on fashion style
since 2002 until now. In this almost ten years,
Taiwanese people start to accept foreign culture
and the culture has grown similar in taste, the
evidence shown we can see by Internet.
There are too many brands challenge
Taiwanese market in recent years, especially
Japanese brands. Although Taiwanese people
start to notice western brands such as H&M,
ZARA and TOPSHOP, Taiwanese still have many
choices in fashion brands. Moreover, TOPSHOP’s
price is not really low, exactly TOPSHOP is a
middle price brand but some items still are quite
expensive such as shoes and bags. So TOPSHOP
would need to find the right combination of price
and style, targeted at the right customer.
• Opportunities
There are some European brands has already
go to Taiwan in recent years. For example, Mango
is doing well in Taiwanese office lady market;
ZARA and H&M will go to Taiwan in the end of
2011, though they have not enter Taiwan, most of
Taiwanese people is start to crazy about that.
Figure 39
Figure 40Figure 41
Figure 42
Figure 43
thesis-1.indd 44 2011/7/5 5:09:58 PM
45
If ZARA and H&M can be successful in Taiwan,
that will be quite good case for TOPSHOP. Indeed,
Europe brand is going to be popular in recent years
in Taiwan, especially after ZARA and H&M enter
Hong Kong. As H&M for a case, H&M's popularity
is because of its trendy items for such a low price.
This store offers quality clothing at department
store prices which is rare for many retailers today.
Others strength for this company is their overall
delivery time. It only takes 12 weeks to get an item
from the design to its retail state which is very
impressive for a worldwide, low price retailer. The
average for retailers is usually about 6 months
which is double the time that H&M uses. They also
manage to keep the stores brands fresh with guest
designers coming in for different lines in the store.
(associatedcontent, 2009)
No doubt H&M will be successful in Taiwan,
this is a very big and good news for Taiwanese
people. Everyone know that the selling point of
H&M is fashionable trends at affordable price. No
matter how the quality is, H&M is really a perfect
fashion sample for fast fashion trend. Price is the
key point for H&M issues, the perfect marketing
strategies in Taiwan which is cheap, trendy and
good quality, however it is hard to say quality
of H&M. On the contrary, TOPSHOP have good
quality and the latest trend items but maybe
based in a little high price.
There is a existed successful case in Taiwan –
Mango.
Due to these cases, if TOPSHOP want to enter
Taiwanese market, they have many brands can be
the sample which they can learned. Price is difficult
to be lower however they can learn MANGO which
they have particular customer group and their
items sells in many places though the shop is not
Strengths- Its fashion for the young
and urban women - Suitable for office ladies.- The image of MANGO is
quite clear.- Their design style is really
fit and sexy. - Tall girl is their primary
consumer group- Which is the Europe brand
enter Taiwanese market the most early.
- Their overturn might be not very considerable, but steadily.
- There are many brunch in Taiwan, 25 stores so far, includes exclusive shop and store located in department store.
Weakness- Design style is not very
changeful.- High Price.- The target is focus on
middle-age female.- T h e c l o t h i n g t y p e i s
l imited by Taiwanese people’s body shape.
- Their items are not too many.
- Most of young people have no ability to afford it.
Opportunities- More advertising.- Taiwanese fashion style
is going to similar with Europe fashion sty le , which means there are more space can develop.
- There are less developing opportunities in Taiwan because they have enter Taiwan for a long time, everything is going to steading.
Strengths- More Europe brands will
enter Taiwan soon such as ZARA and H&M.
- The price should be a little high compare with other Europe brands.
- In future, most of customer will become teenager, however the design style of MANGO is prefer mature female.
thesis-1.indd 45 2011/7/5 5:10:14 PM
46
really big. Compared with H&M, TOPSHOP have
more trendy items and design style is high-fashion;
compared with MANGO, TOPSHOP’s products are
more suitable for teenager and their accessories
should be more multiple- choices.
• Threats
It is not only price that should be the
biggest threat for TOPSHOP but there are many
competitors in Taiwan such as MANGO that
has already been there for a long time. Potential
competitors for the future include H&M and ZARA
which will arrive in Taiwan before2012. It is hard
to say should TOPSHOP can work as well as
MANGO, there are a turnover report for MANGO
during 2002–2011. (MANGO website, 2010)
People can see that their world-wide turnover
was going well and became steady in recent
years. Due to that, it proved European brands
can do well in the Taiwanese market given
more time to build their particular customer
demographic. ZARA and H&M will soon build
their customer group and therefore it will be too
late for TOPSHOP to re-launch into Taiwan and
compete with, not only these brands, but other
emerging companies in the market..
The condition of the Taiwanese economical
situation needs to be considered. Indeed, it was
bad timing for TOPSHOP to enter the Taiwanese
market during 2000/2002. In that time, Taiwanese
people were in a financially depressed situation
caused by low salaries. They just spent money
on their family without too much entertainment.
However, the financial condition is going to be
better than during their previous attempt. The
timing of any re-launch into Taiwan for TOPSHOP
will be critical if they are to make gains in this
market.
5.3 Competitor Analysis - which store are major
competitor?
If TOPSHOP will entre Taiwanese market,
the biggest competitor should be UNIQLO
now. UNIQLO is a Japanese brand which sells
many kinds of clothing includes underwear and
nightwear which is as similar as TOPSHOP. In
Japan, UNIQLO is a middle-price brand and
euros
1.125
1.050
975
900
825
750
675
600
525
450
375
300
225
150
75
0
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
745€782USD
782€804USD
832€1033USD
881€1038USD
942€1214.6USD
1020€1504USD
1071€1507.3USD
1125€1058USD
1181€1741.6USD
1240€1828.5USD
thesis-1.indd 46 2011/7/5 5:10:29 PM
47
their design style are suitable for everyone, from
teenager to older. However, in Taiwan, UNIQLO
becomes a fashionable brand and the store is
located in the Japanese department store which
in luxurious area in Taipei, the price is more
higher as well. The character of this brand’s
clothing should be colourful, good quality and not
too fashionable-this is good for everyone to wear.
However, this brand’s style is very different
compare with TOPSHOP, TOPSHOP is focus on
15-30 age group, design style is fashionable;
UNIQLO is focus on all age and style is more
simple, good quality as well. To sum up, UNIQLO
has their stable market in Taiwan, nevertheless
cannot compare with TOPSHOP, this two brand
are quite different.
Figure 44
Figure 47
Figure 45 Figure 46
Figure 50
Figure 49
Figure 48
thesis-1.indd 47 2011/7/5 5:10:43 PM
48
The other competitor for TOPSHOP is NET
which is a local Taiwanese brand. The producing
factory of NET all located in China. The most
interesting thing in NET is their often change
their seasonal products and have change
different style items fast. For example, NET have
copied t-shirt pattern of H&M, casual style was
similar with A&F. Although the design style is
quite with other brands, however they have very
low price, it is the biggest reason which push
many Taiwanese female love to buy. Also, they
have many series such as for teenager, office
lady, child and nightwear.
The advantage is their quality is really not
good. NET is a smart clothing enterprise because
of they have copied foreign fashion brand’s
marketing strategy such as they change seasonal
item so fast; they have many choices in different
aspects; they know what Taiwanese people
love to buy; they have good design pattern but
the price is not very high likes H&M. Indeed,
copy other brand’s design style is a normal
phenomenon in Taiwan, most of Taiwanese
fashion is learn by Japan and western style.
Besides, if TOPSHOP want to entre Taiwanese
market, they will have a new competitor-ZARA.
According some Taiwanese news reported,
ZARA plan to entre Taiwanese fashion field and
they have a store is building in Taipei city from
2011. Nobody knows what date they will open
however the truth is they are in the way to entre
Taiwan. Thus, whether ZARA could be successful
in Taiwan, it must be a big issue in Taiwanese
fashion field.
Figure 51
Figure 52 Figure 53
thesis-1.indd 48 2011/7/5 5:10:59 PM
49
Price
TOPSHOP
ZARA
H&M
NETTraditional Trend
Heritage Classic Non-fashon Fashonable
UNIQLO
TOPSHOP Positioning:
Figure 54 Figure 55 Figure 56 Figure 57
thesis-1.indd 49 2011/7/5 5:11:13 PM
thesis-1.indd 50 2011/7/5 5:11:15 PM
51
6.1 Online Questionnaire analysis
This email questionnaire (see appendix 1)
aims at collect more detailed information from
Taiwanese customers about TOPSHOP events in
Taiwan. By collecting the information from these
questionnaires, we can find out what caused
TOPSHOP to fail in the Taiwanese market. This
outcome does not only show the popularity of
TOPSHOP in Taiwan but also an analysis of what
kind of clothing style is suitable for Taiwanese
female customers. Moreover, according to the
statistics, we can set up a target if TOPSHOP
will re-enter the Taiwanese market; what factors
should be improved to avoid another business
failure. After collecting this questionnaire, it is
even possible to achieve an outcome for analysis
by different aspects, such as design style, price,
fit and advertising.
This questionnaire design is very simple
and focuses on a specific group of -18-30years of
female (see appendix 2.2). I sent about 70 mails
to Taiwanese female customers and had replies
back from about 64 mails. Some of them knew that
there were TOPSHOPs in Taiwan, some of them
don’t; some of the people interviewed expected
TOPSHOP to re-enter the Taiwanese market as soon
as possible, because they loved British style and
fashionable designs. From the questionnaire, I found
that TOPSHOP is a midmarket brand and their
price is reasonable for Taiwanese customers (see
appendix 2.7), their modern and fashionable design
style is what attracts the Taiwanese customer to
buy the their products. (see appendix 2.6)
6.2 Questionnaire analysisThe design idea of this questionnaire is
from a fashion magazine. Two similar types of
Figure 58
thesis-1.indd 51 2011/7/5 5:11:17 PM
52
clothes are shown, but one is from the TOPSHOP
website, and the other is from a Taiwanese
shopping website. The UK price and Taiwanese
price are marked, and people can choose which
one they would like to buy, even though the
price and quality are quite different, but the
style is very similar. 70 people responded to
the questionnaire, and it was obvious from the
results that most Taiwanese females choose
products depending on quality and style. Price is
no longer the most important factor.
• Taiwanese brand & TOPSHOP
Choose TW: 10% Choose UK: 90%
The type looks feminine Good-looking colour
Colour looks good It is fit for Taiwanese people
Good quality
Its colour and cutting
Suitable for short girls
Choose TW: 80% Choose UK: 20%
The length is suitable for petite Asian girls Unique style
It looks young Quality seems good
UK one is too long fora stripe dress
Fashionable andbetter quality
This one looksbetter personally
Figure 59
Figure 66Figure 65
Figure 60
thesis-1.indd 52 2011/7/5 5:11:19 PM
53
Choose TW: 60% Choose UK: 40%
Colour and style is better Its type looks fit forbody shape
The quality and price is reasonable for this item I do not like pockets
Do not want to spend a lot of money on this casual item The quality looks better
It looks more comfortablethan the other one
Choose UK: 50% Choose TW: 50%
Quality and type looks better Cheaper and fashionable
It is more stylish and the cutting is good, make girls
look skinnyThe length is fashionable
The TW one looks so old The cutting is more stylish than the other one
Fit for women’s shape
Chic
Figure 61
Figure 62Figure 63
Figure 64
Figure 68Figure 67
thesis-1.indd 53 2011/7/5 5:11:23 PM
54
Choose TW: 30% Choose UK: 70%
The style looks nice Its design style looks more stylish
Type and price is good and reasonable
Its type looks simple,the other one looks
complicated and loose
It looks more stylish and fit,the other one looks
messed up.
Choose TW: 40% Choose UK: 60%
The length is shorter which is suitable for Asian girls The quality looks good
This product is more seasonal and the other one looks
heavy when people wear itDesign style and looks fit
This one looks fresher for such a white blazer It looks Stylish
It looks more elegant than the other one
The length looks more fashionable and not old
Figure 69
Figure 70
Figure 71
Figure 76 Figure 77
thesis-1.indd 54 2011/7/5 5:11:29 PM
55
Choose UK: 20% Choose TW: 80%
Its type and colour looks high-quality
Its colour looks betterand younger
Colour It looks so hot! The other oneis normal and not special
The fabric looks more comfortable
This colour looks more brightand have some details in
the head of the pants, the design style makes
people look thinner
According to this investigation, the result
is going to show a fact: Taiwanese people care
more for quality than the price. When they have
to choose the best one, the first condition they
consider is quality, the second condition is colour,
third is how the clothing makes people look fit or
younger, however all these answers reflect one
thing: price is not everything.
From this investigation, TOPSHOP look to
have a large possibility of entering the Taiwanese
market. The results proved that Taiwanese
people consider how fashionable clothes are as
important as a reasonable price, which means
Taiwanese people wish to upgrade their living
quality and not only focus on work or family life.
It is an evidence showing Taiwan is a developing
country, a better quality of life can stimulate
consumer spending.
Figure 72Figure 73
Figure 74
Figure 75
Figure 78
thesis-1.indd 55 2011/7/5 5:11:30 PM
56
PRO CON
Name: Lois TsaiOccupation: Local fashion
news reporter
Name: Gladys TsaiOccupation: International
fashion news reporter
• Not familiar with TOPSHOP, only know this brand from Kate Moss advertisements.
• Quite familiar with TOPSHOP from childhood.
• M i d d l e - p r i c e d b r a n d , Fashionable and unique, love the dresses the most.
• Chic, urban, and British brand; love the tops the most.
• C o m p e t i t o r i s N E T, reasons: design style, low price. Mango is a strong competitor as well.
• Its competitor is itself - price decides everything. N E T s h o u l d b e a n interesting thought. It has become a copycat these days, Its advantages are price, design and location.
• H & M a n d Z A R A w i l l carve up the Taiwanese market first, because their clothing style is similar to TOPSHOP; H&M’s cut is more suitable for western people; the Taiwanese will love TOPSHOP due to its popularity, and compared with other British fashion brands, TOPSHOP’s price is reasonable but stylish.
• Depends on the price! Unless TOPSHOP changes drastical ly, Taiwanese people will still prefer to check out ZARA and H&M. These two brands are very popular European brands for Taiwanese people and they are always familiar with them.
• It is possible for TOPSHOP re-launch in the Taiwanese market in the fu ture , because Taiwanese people usua l ly adore fo re ign brands. TOPSHOP would be successful if it works h a r d o n l o c a l m a r k e t research and advertising.
• I t i s n e g a t i v e t o s a y T O P S H O P w o n ’ t b e success fu l i f i t i s re -l a u n c h e d i n Ta i w a n , but pr i ce i s the most important reason. If its target is teenagers, it must remember to keep the prices reasonable.
6.3 Interviews The following is a comparison from this two
interviewers, the result will showing will showed
below of this (can see Appendix 3 as well):
1. Are you familiar with TOPSHOP? How you know about this brand?
2. Can you describe what image you have of TOPSHOP? This brand has many kinds of products. Which item do you think you would love to buy frequently?
3. If TOPSHOP wants to come to Taiwan again, who will be its main competitor? For example, how would you compare it with the middle- priced Japanese brand, UNIQLO, and Taiwanese local clothing brand, NET, in terms of quality, design style, popularity and price?
4. According to the news, European brands, ZARA and H&M will be entering the Taiwanese market soon. However, TOPSHOP seems to have no plans to re-enter Taiwan. Do you think ZARA and H&M will carve up the Taiwanese market first? Will this become a crisis for TOPSHOP if it wants to re-launch in Taiwan? If you are a customer, and these three brands are located in the same shopping district, how will you choose one of them?
5. From a customer perspective, under what conditions could TOPSHOP be successfully re-launched into the Taiwanese market? Do you think it is possible for TOPSHOP to do well in Taiwan?
thesis-1.indd 56 2011/7/5 5:11:32 PM
57
This interviews result showed an interesting
phenomenon, this two people respectively is
local fashion reporter and international fashion
news journalist. As Lois Tsai’s case, she
predicted TOPSHOP can be successful in Taiwan
like UNIQLO or any other foreign brands, due to
the popularity of TOPSHOP in Europe, Taiwanese
people will consider this brands is a quite cool
high fashion brand in UK and they have a famous
spokesman – Kate Moss, this is a top news had
reported in Taiwanese fashion market. Moreover,
there is a concept in Taiwanese people’s mind
– The quality of product from Europe is always
nicer than made in China or Asia.
Besides, in Taiwanese shopping website,
people can research the key word – TOPSHOP
and see many items on that, however the price
is not really cheap on websites. TOPSHOP in
Taiwan have their consumer market especially for
some particular group who love and used to use
Europe brands. For those people, the only way to
buy TOPSHOP is online shopping, however they
cannot touch the real item and of course they
cannot fitting, therefore if TOPSHOP have shops
in Taiwan should be a popular issue and people
will propose their urban, unique and fashionable
design style.
Above of all, that is a very local Taiwanese
people’s opinion which might be not familiar with
Europe brands. For the other person – Gladys Tsai,
she is worked for international channel and quite
familiar with Europe fashion style and other thing
else. Her viewpoint is different with Lois Tsai.
Gladys Tsai was reported many fashion
news and know how different between Europe
market and Taiwanese market, as her thinking,
it is a bit difficult to build a successful market for
TOPSHOP if they want to re-launch Taiwan. Most
the problem is from PRICE.
If the target of TOPSHOP is for teenager, in
Taiwan, most of teenager has more choices on
fashion clothing. There are many places teenager
can go to shop, such as night - market, local low
– price brand, department store even some little
clothing shop around Taiwanese high street.
They have such many choices and not necessary
to choose TOPSHOP. This is one of reason Gladys
Tsai think TOPSHOP have lass possibility to be
successful in Taiwanese market.
However, this is two dissimilar cases for
interviews. They did showed different opinions
from a local Taiwanese customer and the other
is familiar with international market. In my
Figure 79 Figure 80
thesis-1.indd 57 2011/7/5 5:11:35 PM