Topshop Delivers #LIVETRENDS and Achieves an 11:1 ROI

Stackla collaborated with TOPSHOP and Twitter to turn social conversations at London Fashion Week into instantly shoppable live trends.

TOPSHOP is the only high street brand to show at London Fashion Week—the British fashion industry’s most prestigious, closed-door event. It is uniquely positioned to democratise fashion by inviting customers to access the insider’s view and make Fashion Week relevant, accessible, and fun for consumers across the UK.

TOPSHOP wanted to extend the excitement around London Fashion Week beyond the capital, using billboards in key UK cities to take Fashion Week to the POS in regional flagship stores. #LIVETRENDS from London Fashion Week turned the front row’s fashion Tweets into shoppable, real-time curated collections that consumers could purchase instantly.

Stackla enabled TOPSHOP to aggregate the data and publish #LIVETRENDS content across all of its digital channels. The retailer tapped into the conversation among industry editors, stylists, and bloggers, then analysed the data to identify key catwalk and street style trends as they emerged—in real time.

TOPSHOP also aimed to satisfy consumer demand for fast fashion by making the catwalk trends of next season shoppable instantly (collections are presented six months ahead of when they hit stores). The #LIVETRENDS campaign, which ran throughout London Fashion Week, translated the looks from the catwalk into groups of TOPSHOP products available to buy now, allowing customers to be truly ahead of the trend.

The #LIVETRENDS interface was designed in-house by TOPSHOP and custom-built by Stackla. Using the Stackla API, TOPSHOP integrated trend data from Twitter with product data from TOPSHOPs own systems to create the billboards dynamically.

Andy Mallinson, European MD at Stackla, said: “London Fashion Week is an exclusive, fast-paced event, and social media is a particularly effective channel for showcasing the most exciting trends which are emerging from the runway. The Stackla platform aggregates Twitter content in a way which is thorough and precise, whilst allowing Topshop to deftly pick-out relevant Tweets from top bloggers. From there, Topshop can really engage on a personal level with customers, by responding to specific request for items around a particular catwalk style. The integration between Topshop, Twitter and Stackla is an innovative one; it democratises fashion for the UK consumer, and enables customer engagement to be swifter and more bespoke.”

Trends were translated into buy-it-now groups of TOPSHOP products and displayed on live, shoppable digital billboards across six major UK cities—an industry first. The same dynamic and live content was also featured across all customer touchpoints, including topshop.com and the retailer’s mobile site, at the TOPSHOP Showspace at London Fashion Week, in regional stores across the UK, at the Oxford Circus flagship store, and on Twitter.

Each billboard site was hand-picked to be within 10 minutes walking proximity of a TOPSHOP store. Customers were prompted to Tweet @TOPSHOP with the trend hashtag they’d just seen (i.e., #Modernism, #Embroidery, #Paisley, and so on) to receive an instant link to the curated product edit, which could then be purchased immediately from their mobile. Customers were also prompted to visit the store within walking distance, see the trends, and shop them.

This was the first time a brand had used real-time trends data to inspire and curate a customer’s shopping journey using outdoor digital media.

Sanj Matharu, Program Manager EMEA Brand Strategy at Twitter, comments: “Twitter allows followers of London Fashion Week to feel totally immersed in the catwalk action, even if they don’t have a front-row seat. The relationship between Twitter, Topshop and Stackla helps customers draw inspiration from catwalk styles and apply these trends to their own wardrobe almost instantly. This campaign showcases the real value of digital media when it comes to customer engagement.”

The #LIVETRENDS campaign was a smashing success, both in terms of consumer engagement and ROI. More than 3.8 million customers engaged using the hashtag on Twitter, and TOPSHOP saw up to 75% sales uplift on featured products online during the campaign—contributing to an 11:1 return on its investment.

Furthermore, the #LIVETRENDS campaign was recognised at the prestigious 2015 CLIO Image Awards, winning the Out of Home and Integrated Campaign categories. It was also awarded Digital Marketing Campaign of the Year at the 2015 B&T Retail Week Tech & eComm Awards.

According to Sheena Sauvaire, Global Head of Marketing & Communications at Topshop, comments: “This integration is about bringing customers into the heart of London Fashion Week, and allowing them to shop catwalk trends in real-time. This campaign ensures that our customers are more empowered than ever, and able to enjoy a personalised shopping experience via a simple Tweet. The use of innovative digital media around London Fashion Week has elevated the level of customer experience for Topshop customers.”