Positioning The Brand

To position my brand, I need to figure out three main factors.

·      Point of difference

·      Attraction

·      Distinction

The “point of difference” is the factor that includes the “attraction” and “distinction” part by positioning the brand. Translated, it means how am I going to attract my consumers and stand out from my competitors. What exactly makes my brand unique and special? As my brand is a brand extension of a well-known UK high-street company, it will already attract the main customers of Topshop. By positioning a brand I need to go through a few questions to make sure to really figure out how to position my new brand.

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-determine-your-businesss-market-position.html

Who, what, where and why am I targeting?

·      Who? = The brand will attract a wide range of consumers. It will focus on consumer in the age of 18-40. This brand will attract students as well as professionals. Consumers who count themselves as fashionable but also women who are not keen in fashion and trends.

·      What? = The brand offers clothing for a wide range of customers. Women will be able to look stylish but without having the choice of either wearing a complete classy and elegant look or just go for the sporty version as the brand offers both styles to combine. It will also be possible to use the Do-It-Yourself section and customise their desired items. Women don´t have to search around shops to find cool combinations as they will have the trend already in one shop.

·      Where? = Topshop is one of the biggest UK high-street retailers and therefore the brand extension will be offered in the begging only in the UK. It will start by selling the new extensions in flagship stores.

·      Why? There is definitely a market gap in the fashion industry when it comes to stylish, trendy and fashionable clothing in a comfortable perspective. Most women feel they need to wear high-heels or tight clothes to be fashionable or look feminine. This brand will prove the opposite.

It is also important to go through the 4 P´s while positioning a new brand.

http://www.imrcorp.com/services/branding-and-positioning/brand-positioning/

Position: Topshop has already nine brands and every single one is positioned in a different way and different space. Topshop Unique and Topshop Boutique are the more exclusive brands in the shop and have a complete different interior design compared to the other brands. Topshop Unique was the first UK high-street brand to have a fashion show during the London Fashion Week. My brand will have the same high status to be compared with Fashion Weeks and speciality. As „Unique“ and „Boutique“ are higher-priced and do stand out from the rest of the Topshop-brands, my brand extension will be positioned right next to those two to get the same higher concept and status.

Price: The brand will be comprised of good materials with good quality. As it should relate to fashionistas, celebrities, magazine, blogs and fashion weeks, the price will be higher then the rest of Topshop brands. As it is still a high street brand, the price should be still affordable. It will be inbetween the price ranges of the regular Topshop clothings and the Topshop Unique + Boutique clothings.

Place: The brand extension will take place in the flagship-stores all around the UK. In the beginning it is important to see how the consumers will react on the new brand extension and see how big the demand it.

Promotion:  As my brand is going to be a brand extension, the promotion will be firstly made by TOPSHOP itself. Traditonal- but also non-traditional marketing will be used and also the involvement of celebrities.

The brand will market a young but also mature target group. People who are keen on fashion but also those who are not. It will be easy to shop because the style is very simple but yet unique. The customer profile and behaviour of the target market will definitely be young fashion interested women. The trend came up from women who attented fashion weeks all around the world. These women are either fashion students, fashion bloggers or otherwise engaged in that industry. Young girls who are interested in fashion but also those who don’t really focus to much on current trends, see the pictures of the fashionistas in magazines and try to imitate the outfits.

The main competitors are all high-street brands who focus on fast fashion and definitely vintage stores and sports-stores which sale sporty clothing such as sneakers, hats and baseball-jackets.

The needs that this brand extension fulfills are that women who are interested in this trend, will find it easy to get the combination of the “Sporty meets Elegant”-Look but also those who just like to dress feminine with an edgy touch will find what they need. Also the Do-It-Yourself section will serve many consumers needs as the average of consumers like to change and customise their clothing in order to look different.

Consumers will see the use of this brand even in a long term view as it doesn´t capture any certain trend that might get boring in the next seasons as "elegant" and "sporty" will always exist. The elegant and sporty look will always be in fashion and therefore an aspect to believe that the new extension will succeed. Women will always feel the need of either dressing sporty or elegant. This look can be combined in both ways.

The key/unique benefit that differentiates my brand from its competitors is definitely the D-I-Y section. Offering customers in the stores and online the chance to order their customised clothing 365 days a year, will make it more remarkable than other high-street retailers.

The benefit of the brand is that women will be dressed in a stylish way, for affordable prices but still feel special as the price is higher then regular high-street prices. They will feel special and different as they are able to customise their clothing or even surprise someone with a customised piece as a gift.