Extend the Fashion Life: Topshop’s Strategies Essay
From the article Outcome-Driven Supply Chains (Melnyk, Davis, Spekman and Sandor, 2010), we’ve got the idea that supply chain managers should regards on the six basic supply chain outcomes (“cost,” responsiveness, security, sustainability, resilience and innovation), and at least one of them must be provided when make supply chain strategies. The marketing situations and customers’ minds changing all the time, in practice, some of the companies only focused on one outcome that their supply chains often cannot meet the requirements of the newly emerging business environment.
SCM 2010 and Beyond Workshop) So effective supply chains are often hybrids — reflecting various combinations of the six, that is “Blending Supply Chain Outcomes to Achieve Competitive Advantage”. In recent decades, clothing ; fashion retailers industry developed very quickly, the fast fashion store emerged one after the other. Cost leadership is the most competitive advantage in this area, such as H;M, Zara and Topshop. (Foroohar, R. and Stabe, M. , 2005).At meanwhile, in this sector, renewal and replacement occurred frequently because of the clothing is kind of “consumable products” and target customers’ taste always changing with the fashion trends.
The supply chain strategy must be responsiveness on both geographic area and customers’ level. The changing dynamics of the fashion industry since then, such as the fading of mass production, increase in number of fashion seasons, and modified structural characteristics in the supply chain have forced retailers to desire low cost and ?exibility in design, quality, delivery and speed to market (Doyle, Moore, and Morgan 2006).In order to improve this circumstance, innovation is necessary. Like Topshop, who update its new collections cooperated with designer JW Anderson this September. It seems retailers struggling to shift goods before they become ‘yesterday’s season’. It’s not the first time fashion store cooperate with famous designers. Except Topshop, H;M also do this such as Versace for H;M.
Consumer pressure also means that the concept of having a fresh floor every month has changed the way supply chains need to perform.This innovation make the brand style variable and provide old customers surprise hen they are about to turn their eyes to the competitor’s brands. It’s no longer enough to ‘buy to sell’ as retailers now need to pay closer attention to product lifecycles, improve forecast accuracy and take a fresh look at their supply chain just to keep their heads above water. (Andrew Underwood, partner at KPMG) Topshop, over the years become much more than a ‘’style setter’’ by approaching charities as well as sponsoring their work at London Fashion Week. To support these affairs, low cost strategies must be an effective strength.
The almost all the manufactory are set in low-cost labor force counties, for instance, Spain and Romania.The blend of cost, responsiveness and innovation make the successful of Topshop to outstanding among the apparel stores. Reference: Melnyk, Steven A. , Edward W.
Davis, Robert E. Spekman, and Joseph Sandor. Outcome-Driven Supply Chains. North Hollywood, CA: MIT Sloan Management Review, 2010 Anna Nagurney, Min Yu. Fashion Supply Chain Management Through Cost and Time Minimization from a Network Perspective. University of Massachusetts Amherst, Massachusetts 01003. August 2010; revised September 2010 Fashion retailers need new supply chain approach.
18 September 2012.
