Competitor Analysis Topshop V H&M V Primark

It is clear Topshop's key competitors are H&M and Primark. All three retailers have three things in common:

1. They target the same audience base in terms of style and age. 
2. They are all women apparel clothing stores
3. They determine to make the most sales.

However these stores have different ways of advertising and ways they use each of their social media channels to attract their target market. Social media and apps are an important communication channel and is a key operation to have as a retailer/company.

Topshop, being the most popular social media retailer out of the three, has a marketing and selling strategy in the way they attract their customers.

The social media team controls all the networks they have, Twitter, Instagram, Inside-Out (blog) and Facebook. 
Karla Evans is Topshop's Social Media Editor/writer from the editorial team and Topshop.com and explains her job role is "exciting" and "challenging".

It's evident when viewing Topshop's social media networks why they are so popular. It's not only a platform that they see to view their products and to sell but a way for them to befriend their audience. Topshop's aim is to be different from everyone else and engage with their followers. 
Their blog give's the audience a look into their Head Quarters, behind the scenes and gives daily tips on what to wear and how to wear it, what Topshop loves and how to create the perfect look. 

What the social media team is made up of?
It is split into a team of three, Marketing, Public Relations and Media Relations. All three deal with publicising the content, communicating with customers via Twitter and promoting the brand. 

*This graph indicates what the Social Media team consists of, the different sectors of the social media department and how much each sector makes up as part of the company.


Karla Evans commented:
"The social media platform is made up of so many different people, it's not just here in the UK, we all work together as a team from London to our editorial team in New York."

Behind the team's creation is the website Topshop.com which attracts and entice customers and if they cannot get enough of what they see, they read more about it via the blog or follow their Instagram to keep up with their latest feeds and recent styles. These social platforms are also ways in which Topshop advertise their clothing and their appearance's in every year's Fashion Week showcasing TopshopUNIQUE.
With more than 200 million followers it's no wonder why Topshop is so popular.



H&M too holds their own social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook with their blog on the home page of their online website HM.com. They are undoubtedly still popular online via their social networking sites, however plans differently compared to Topshop. They market their clothes more than interacting with their customers. Social media Editor Sophia Diane Banoori explains, "The team makes a lot of effort in keeping all sources of networking detailed and up to date. We are very hardworking as a whole and aim to appeal to our target market".

*Strengths & Weaknesses of Competitors

From being online for just 4 years, H&M are building a good social media platform with trying to engage with their customers to dealing with their problems and being able to offer them a 24 hour service online via Twitter if need be.






Primark is the only retailer out of the three that doesn't offer an online shopping service but rather a website that showcase's their products which they have in store, their new collection on Primark.com . They do however have a page called Primania where Primark fans can upload their favourite "Primark Look" and show it off to the world. This is one way that they market to their customers, using Primark fans to promote their look to their audience to bring up their ratings and sales in stores.

*Strengths & Weaknesses of Competitors

They do offer social networking sites such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, however they don't perform as well as H&M and Topshop in terms of marketing. The networks aren't as popular and do lack a strategy. Though in terms of the company as, Primark has proven that it doesn't need an online website with the high sales and a 22% revenue jump from the previous year.