Will Topshop Australia’s woes stop other global brands from coming here? Three lessons for retailers

Last Wednesday, administrators announced they were working with the UK owners of the Topshop and Topman brands on “supporting and right-sizing” the Australian franchise after it collapsed six years after launching into the local market.

The post-mortems of the fashion imprints have been vicious, with some retail analysts questioning why the brands even entered the Australian market in the first place.

At a time when local retailers simultaneously bemoan tough local conditions and look over their shoulders at international competitors like Amazon, will this latest collapse warn global retailers not to try their hands in Australia?

Here are three things the experts say others can learn from Topshop’s troubles.

1. It was too late to the party

Last week expert in consumer behaviour at Deakin University, Paul Harrison, told SmartCompany the brands were up against it from the very start because Topshop entered Australia too late.

“The first thing was that H&M has first mover advantage — they were able to establish a market here. Topshop didn’t have an established brand, a lot of the placement of their stores was kind of strange, as well,” Harrison said. Read more

Emma Koehn - Smart Company - 29 May 2017