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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

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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

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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.

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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,

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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?

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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

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