Topshop Customer Satisfaction Analysis

This assignment focuses on analyzing customer satisfaction with the fashion brand Topshop. It involves interpreting survey data gathered from customers regarding their experiences, product preferences, and overall satisfaction. The analysis will explore key factors driving purchasing decisions and delve into customer loyalty towards the brand. Additionally, the assignment requires discussion of relevant consumer buying theories and market opportunities within the UK for Topshop.

Unit 17. Marketing Intelligence
A case study on Topshop
Student name:
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Table of Contents
Introduction:.............................................................................................................................................3
Task 1: Understand buyer behaviour and the purchase decision- making process.................................3
1.1 Describe the main stages of the purchase decision-making process.......................................3
1.2 Two theories of buyer behaviour.............................................................................................5
1.3 Three factors that affect buyer behaviour......................................................................................5
1.4 Evaluation of the relationship between brand loyalty, corporate image, and repeat purchase......6
Task 2: Be able to use marketing research techniques............................................................................6
2.1 Evaluate different types of marketing research techniques...........................................................6
2.2 Use of Secondary data to achieve marketing research objectives.................................................7
2.3 Validity and reliability of market research findings......................................................................7
2.4 Plan the marketing research process to obtain market data...........................................................8
Task 3: Be able to assess market size and future demand.......................................................................8
3.1 Market size and market trends for fashion industry......................................................................8
3.2 Competitor analysis of the organisation........................................................................................9
3.3 Opportunity and threats for the new product of the organisation................................................10
Task 4: Be able to measure customer satisfaction................................................................................10
4.1 Two techniques to assess customer response towards the product..............................................10
4.2 Customer satisfaction survey to evaluate the customer satisfaction rate.....................................11
4.3 Discussion of customer satisfaction survey of the organisation..................................................14
Conclusion:............................................................................................................................................14
References..............................................................................................................................................15
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Introduction:
The report is concerned about the customer behaviour and their effect on business. to
formulate the report in a proper way the renowned brand Topshop has adopted as the case
study. Marketing research is essential for making effective strategies and there are different
techniques to conduct marketing research. Topshop can use different marketing research
techniques to make effective strategies. Assessment of market demand and future demand of
customers from fashion industry also will be discuss in this assignment. Questionnaire for
survey process also will be provided in this report to gather information about degree of
satisfaction of Topshop customers.
Task 1: Interpreting the stages of purchase decision- making process
1.1 Describe the main phases of the purchase decision-making process
There are various stages of purchase decision-making process based on which, consumers
can make the positive decision in terms of purchasing the required products. Therefore,
Topshop should focus on the vital five stages of decision-making process in order to
understand the behaviour of customers towards the product or service and brand name. The
main stages of purchase decision-making process are given below:
Need Recognition:
The purchase decision-making process begins with the need recognition, where
consumers feel that they must have definite product or service to satisfy their needs. In this
case, consumers develop a want that they wish to fulfil (Solomon, 2014). Thus, the company
make the needs or wants among consumers by producing exclusive style and new design
products.
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Figure 1: Purchase decision-making process
Source: (Gao, et al., 2012)
Information search:
In this stage, consumers majorly deal with the searching of important information
about the product or service that they want to buy. For example, the discount offer provided
by the company. For the promotion of product or service and helping customers to gain the
significant information, Topshop spent huge money (Topshop.com. , 2016). The company
majorly used newspaper and advertisement to deliver the enough information to the potential
customers.
Evaluation of alternatives:
In this stage, customers evaluate the alternative in the market, who provide the similar
products before taking any purchasing decision. The alternative and competitors of Topshop
are Zara and H&M, which offers same type of quality products in the market.
Purchase decision:
In the following stage, customers make the final decision to select on particular brand
and purchase the essential product or service based on quality and price of product, which is
capable to meet the increasing needs (Gao, et al., 2012).
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Post purchase behaviour:
It is the post purchase behaviour, which motivate the consumers to buy the same product
from the same brand in next time.
1.2 Theories of buyer behaviour considering the markets and customers
There are various consumer behaviour theories such as Reason Action theory, Motivation
need theory etc. Both these theories are discussed below :
Reason Action theory:
This theory is related to the ability of changing the behaviour and mind of consumers
with the help of diverse course of action. The marketing department use Reason Action
theory in order to deliver the progressive result regarding the purchase (Chen, et al., 2016).
Along with other organisation, Topshop also used this specific theory in the marketing
process for changing the attitude of customers towards the brand. The company offers the
quality based products with greater level of confidence.
Motivation Need theory:
Motivational need theory is associated with the capability of motivating or
influencing consumers to make the positive decision in the favour of brand. In this case, the
marketers generate the simulated need for the consumer based on which lots of customers can
be attracted successfully (Solomon, et al., 2013). Topshop also focused on this particular
theory to motivate the customers and increase the customer base.
1.3 Three factors that affect buyer behaviour
There are various factors that effects on the person’s buying behaviour. Three factors
will be discussed in this section to identify the impact of different factors on customers’
buying behaviour. Personal influence, social influence, and physiological influence are the
three factors that have significant effects on customer decision about fashion products (Shen,
et al., 2012).
Personal influence is concerned about customer’s own perspective about the fashion.
Most of the customer think about their age and profession before choosing the apparel. Most
of the fashion brand sale their traditional designs among those customers who belong from 39
to 49 years age group. Topshop also has distinct customer base according to their age.
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Whereas most of the young age customers like to purchase modern style dress rather than the
traditional one.
Family has the most important influence on customer purchase decision and it belong from
social factor (Bianchi & Andrews, 2012). Amount of family members, family income, and
tradition of family also effect on purchase decision. Topshop, has high range products and
most of the family who has more than one depended child between age group 12 to 18 avoid
the brand for high price. This is the effect of social factor on purchase decision of customers.
Motivation for buying is the most effective influence of psychological factor and it has
positive effect on purchase decision of customer. This particular factor influence the
customer by crating need of the product. For an instance, in festival time most of the
customer buy different goods, sometime they buy beyond their economic capacity to enjoy
the product quality and feel the sense of festival. Topshop also enjoy impulse sale for this
particular factor in Christmas time (Topshop.com. , 2016).
1.4 Evaluation of the relationship between brand loyalty, corporate image, and repeat
purchase:
Brand loyalty is mainly the willingness to purchase a product in spite of it being
expensive mainly because the customers not only have a confidence about its quality but also
a respect as well. Corporate image can be defined as the employee satisfaction one gets after
working in the company, which in turn proves the company as genuine in the market. It
should not be forgotten that the employees who are working today could be future customers
as well. Repeat purchase depends on the value of the product, which is the proportion
between the assumptions created by the marketing and the advertising of the product, and the
reality that the customer experiences after buying the same. Therefore, in other words, the
repeat purchase slowly retains the customers, and builds brand loyalty over time. Topshop
should concentrate a little on employee satisfaction as well as a newbie marketing strategy for
developing the brand image.
Brand loyalty, corporate image and repeat purchase at the Topshop is interrelated. The
brand loyalty is developed when the people think that the quality of services of this company
is good on a pro-rated basis. It is also known as the development of goodwill, which also
creates the corporate image. The goodwill and the brand loyalty makes a customer purchase
any product once more, which is also known as the repeat purchase. As a whole, the three
things are interrelated to one another, and helps in the development of a company.
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Task 2: Be able to use marketing research techniques
2.1 Analysing and Evaluating different techniques of market research.
As the assistant brand manager of the firm it can be suggested that, Topshop has to
use different types of research techniques to gather valuable market data from different
sources. The secondary research and primary research process both are important to make the
marketing strategies to bring business success.
The secondary research technique will help to get the market data from different data
sources such as journals and other research works on UK market. Topshop will be able to use
all the gathered data to make their marketing plan more effective as per the market demand
(Price, et al., 2015). Secondary research also will be useful to collect the data about present
market and future market of UK by evaluating different government data about population
and economy of the country.
Managers of the organisation also can use the process of observation to collect the
data about customer behaviour towards the bran. Topshop uses the process of direct
distribution and they have their own sales team in all the stores. Sales person can play the role
of observer to collect the data about how customer react about the products of the brand.
Primary research on customers through survey process also can be adopted by
Topshop to gather data about customer’s reaction as well as about customer expectation from
the brand. Survey process can be conducted through face to face interaction or online process.
2.2 Use of Secondary data to achieve marketing research objectives
Future is generated from the trial and error of the past, and this is the way the entire
human race has progressed over time. Therefore, in other words, theories available in the e-
books shows us the past mistakes made by Topshop, which should not be repeated. The
secondary data paves the way for the endeavours that have been utilized in the past by the
business for generating results. The pros and cons of the secondary data would help us to
understand the benefits of business. There are many academic journals available on the
internet, websites, and the learning e-books, which not only gives us theories but also the
practical application of the same.
Secondary research is quite useful for understanding the variations of opinions related
to the marketing expertise. The marketing intelligence based research on Topshop would
enable us to carry the information from various online websites, e-books, journals, magazines
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as well as the annual reports of various companies. All these are mainly essential for
developing the research, and the information can be collected from these sources according to
the objectives of the present research. The exploratory research part is best done by this
method.
2.3 Validity and reliability of market research findings
Market research findings often come out with bias of the competitors, the press as
well as the political and cultural influences. So, it should not be trusted very easily. However,
in order to do the research properly, the market research must be done from a variety of
sources to avoid the bias. Later on, it should be done in such a manner that the mismatch of
information should be avoided, and the findings that are in common should be considered as
the main part of the research. Thus, the validity of the research can be made.
The reliability of a research can only be established when similar research produces
similar results when repeated. All the repetition of the research mainly satisfies the concept of
reliability. The validity of a research mainly consists of the comparison between the statistical
data, and the data that is collected from the secondary research. If the two kinds of data are
not matched, or if a mismatch is found, then it can be considered as an invalid research. The
sample size must be quite big in order to avoid the research being called hypothetical.
2.4 Plan the marketing research process to obtain market data
Planning of a marketing design is very important for the success of business. In order
to formulate the success oriented planning. The aspects that are required for a proper
marketing plan are the objectives, the target market, the research questions, the data
collection (both from primary and secondary sources). The analysis of the data is also
important along with the interpretation based on case study. The marketing plan is given
below-
Marketing
Objectives
Target Market Research
Questions
Primary Data
Collection
Secondary
Data
Collection
To increase the
revenue upto
10% within the
next quarter
Teenage
customers who
are fond of
fashionable
clothes, women
What type of
fashion do you
prefer?
Schools and
colleges.
Teen magazines
like Vogue,
Cosmopolitan,
etc.
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and small kids.
To create sales
channels
The retail stores
and the
distributors.
What is the
latest trend in
the market?
Wholesalers
and retailers.
From the
business
magazines like
Forbes, etc.
To procure
proper and
genuine leads
The customers
who often visits
the shop for
buying the
products of
Topshop.
What is the
opinion about
our customer
service and
product quality?
Noting down
the telephone
number of the
regular visitors
on request.
The numbers
from the
directory of the
wealthy
businessmen
and their kids
from the
internet.
To generate
the sales team
in such a way
to make them
achieve their
goals
The
unemployed
ambitious
people who are
looking for an
opportunity.
Where do you
see yourself in
the next 5
years?
Employee
feedback policy.
Proper training
by sales
manager.
To create
leadership
skills within
the sales
manager
The sales
representatives
who can
understand tacit
selling skills
with experience.
What are your
strengths and
weaknesses?
MBTI
assessment
repeatedly as
well as online
tests on
leadership.
Proper training
by trial and
error and often
by psychologist.
Task 3: Be able to assess market size and future demand
3.1 Market size and market trends for fashion industry
Based on the provided case study it has been evaluated that, the demand of clothing
industry has been increased in the UK market due to raise the demand of clothing products.
The consumers of UK mostly prefer to invest lots of money in purchasing of clothing
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products. Year by year, the income of clothing industry has been enhanced, which has the
positive impact on the economy of UK. The market of 2002 was good in the UK because that
time the clothing industry has earned near about £34,000, but in the year 2003, the sales
growth of this industry has declined (Twigg, 2014). The sales growth of fashion or clothing
industry has increased from 2012 to onwards. The consumers of the UK are more fashionable
and the women clothing industry have the more growth rather than the kids and men.
Therefore, there is an opportunity for Topshop to increase the revenue or sales growth in the
UK market by launching new products as the company has decided to launch women clothing
products mostly between the ages of 18-30 years.
3.2 Competitor analysis of the organisation
Porter’s five forces model has been used in this section, to evaluate the competitor
analysis of the company.
Buyers’ power:
The bargaining power of the buyer would depend on the choices. As Topshop deals
with fashion, choices are more important than money. So, if a proper fashion is available, the
bargaining power of the buyers become low.
Suppliers’ power:
The bargaining power of suppliers should not be much in the fashion industry if the
supplier does not have a brand. The main job of the business is to find a supplier who
produces good fashion but does not have a brand image. The business can certainly get
clothing from there at cheaper rates.
Competitive rivalry:
Topshop is mainly a fashion-based industry. The fashion industry is completely not
dependent on the competitive pricing but on the latest fashionable designs. The Topshop must
produce proper and innovative designs to win over its other competitors.
Threats of substitute:
Clothing accessories have no substitutes if we are civilized. However, the people who
are elderly prefer to wear cheaper clothes because they do not want to show off. So, the
threats of substitutes in the UK is quite limited.
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Threats of new entry:
The threat of new entry in the UK fashion is always a big deal. People want
something new and trendy in fashionable accessories. Innovation is required for increasing
the Topshop based business.
3.3 Chances and warnings for the new product of the organisation
In this section, whenever a new product or service is being introduced in the market, it
has various chances to attract the customers, but at the same time, various threats are also
there which it may have to face.
Opportunity:
The market size of the UK is effective for the Topshop and the consumer are
fashionable and like to buy clothing products, which are considered as the opportunity for the
new product of Topshop (Anderson, et al., 2012). When the Topshop introduces any new
product or services in the market, the company has huge chances of attracting more and more
customers. The preferences of young customers has changes due to the changes of trends,
which would be one of the vital opportunities for the new product to draw the attention of
more customers. Topshop remains sure about the production is according to the current
demand of the generation. As it focuses on the production according to the current demands,
there is a huge opportunity for the Topshop to gain more customers.
Threat:
One of the major threats can be competition as Topshop as the new brand in the
clothing industry and various popular brand are already existing in the UK market. It
competes on a regular basis and has many rivals like H&M, River Island etc. They are also
running at good positions in the market, so they can act as a threat to the Topshop. These
rivals of Topshop are already fast fashion retail stores that are still having a huge number of
followers and customers. A huge number of consumers are there permanent ones, so Topshop
should consider the fact that for making own permanent consumers, it have to cope with the
challenges and satisfies their demands. By this way, they can gain customers and stay away
from threats. Zara is the closest competitor as they ahve relatively higher prices than H&M
and are considered less fashionable than it. The ineffective strategy can also be threat for the
new product therefore, Topshop should focus on developing the good and effective strategies
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for the success of the new product.
Task 4: Capable of analysing customer satisfaction
4.1 Techniques for assessing the response of the customer towards the product
Topshop wants to measure the level of customer satisfaction, in order to do this they
have to use different techniques to assess response towards the product. The techniques
which can help in accessing the response of the customer are discussed as below :
Customer Service Process
Topshop can use two types of customer survey processes such as direct and indirect.
Under the direct process, managers of Topshop have to conduct the customer survey through
questionnaire (Wei, et al., 2013). In this process, customers will give their feedbacks about
existing products, customer service process, and new product of the brand under the
supervision of store managers. Direct survey process will help both the customer and the
marketer by reducing the possibility of misinterpretation of questions and the survey will
provide actual viewpoint of customer towards the brand.
Indirect process such as survey through social media also can be used by the
organization to measure the customer response towards the product. In this technique,
Topshop has to upload the questionnaire on their social media page and also have to send the
request message to followers to provide their valuable feedback's (Topshop.com. , 2016). It
will take more time than the direct method. Therefore, the direct survey method will be the
proper way to achieve the objective of this marketing plan.
Customer Suggestions
It is a very important factor for every company. Topshop can ask for feedback's from
its customers on a regular basis. It will help them in overall analysis of the products and
services. Customers also can make very helpful suggestions to improve the business.
Topshop can take use of suggestion forms also in which the customer can suggest their ideas
and views according to any product or service of Topshop, they want to change. They should
organize a customer service department of their own where customers can ask for any queries
or questions, they want to ask for some specific product. This feature can help the company
in a way that if they were lacking anywhere in their services or products, customers can make
them aware about them and they can replace it with the modified one.
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4.2 Evaluation of customer satisfaction rate by customer satisfaction
survey
1) Gender?
 Male
 Female
2) Age?
 16-26 years
 27- 37 years
 38-47 years
 47-57 years
 Above 57 years
3) Do you like to purchase from Topshop?
 Yes
 No
4) How do you rate yourself as loyal customer of Topshop? ( 1 for low, 5for high)
 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
5) How do you rate the product quality of the brand?
 Not good
 Satisfactory
 High quality
6) How often you purchase from Topshop?
 In a year
 Occasionally
 As per requirement
 Once a month
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7) Rate your experience with sales personnel of the brand. (1 is low, 5 is high)
 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
8) Which is the attraction to purchase from Topshop?
 Assistance of sales personnel
 Product variety
 Product quality
9) Do you have aware about the new product of the brand/
 Yes
 No
10) Do you agree with fact that Topshop has ability to satisfy customers need?
 Highly agree
 Agree
 Disagree
 Highly disagree
11) Will you want to use new shoe of this brand?
 Yes
 No
12) If yes, what is the reason?
 Trust on brand
 Style of the product
 Recommendation from friends
 Appropriate with Topshop apparel
13) Do you want to suggest anything for the brand?
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Some findings of survey:
Figure 24) How do you rate yourself as loyal customer of Topshop? ( 1 for low, 5for high)
Source: By Author of this report
Figure 3Do you agree with fact that Topshop has ability to satisfy customers need?
Source: By Author of this report
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4.3 Discussion of customer satisfaction survey of the organization
In actual there are three basic elements that determines the success of a survey and
these are if the survey was complicated and confusing, results of the survey are feedback or
not to the respondents and there is a follow up or not on the feedback. Customer satisfaction
survey helps in analyzing and evaluating properly the exact condition of the company. It can
also help in doing the modifications where required so that Topshop can be able to satisfy
their customers. Customer satisfaction is a pertinent factor in all the industries including
fashion industries like Topshop. However, the customer satisfaction in a fashion industry
completely depends on the product value, which is the difference between expectations and
reality. The expectations are created by ads on the television, online and by social media.
People go to the store in lieu of such expectations, but if the reality is far below the standard
of expectations, the ad creates, then there would be no customer retention, and the brand
image would completely go haywire.
The validity and reliability of the research plays a bigger role in applying the
strategies and the customer satisfaction based survey is proper or not. The response to the
questions should also be considered in the following research. With the increase of the
response rate, it can be considered that the research is more valid, and the research would
even increase the customer service of the organization.
Conclusion:
As per the above discussion, it can be said the Topshop has to consider different
aspects to assess the customer behaviour and measure the satisfaction level of customer
towards the product and the brand. Different research techniques also have to use to get the
desire outcome from the marketing plan. From the overall discussion, it has been concluded
that the buying decision process and consumer buying theory are important to make the
capable in terms of taking the positive decision. The market of UK is perfect for Topshop to
establish the business because there are several opportunities for attracting more customers
and increasing sales of products.
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