Topshop Digitalistas of Fashion

TopShop are innovators in the digital revolution of the fashion industry. They’ve installed digital technologies in-store to enhance their customer experience and created many digital programs to engage their audience, I’m always excited to see what’s next for the brand.

Some digital/social campaigns I’ve noted and enjoyed are:-

In-Store Virtual “fitting room”

Topshop set up a virtual fitting room in the form of a giant iPad its flagship store in Moscow. Using Microsoft Kinect mixed with augmented reality the virtual fitting room let shoppers try on clothes without needing to get undressed – what bliss for a girl!

The giant iPad had a built-in camera that recognised the human body and superimposes a 3D model of a garment which shoppers can switch to different ensembles using simple gestures, all powered by Kinect.

Watch the video to see how genius this concept is…

• Link-up with SCVNGR which they did in September 2011 for back-to-school. Students had to undergo challenges in-store with their mobile device to earn rewards such as shopping sprees and discounts.
• Pinterest x Topshop Digital Gift Guide always innovating the clicks-t0-bricks this was a great pilot for tapping into pinners during the holiday season. The digital screen synced to Pinterest in their NYC and London flagships to allow shoppers to build their wish list from stores. I personally wouldn’t want people watching my pinning habits but a great test!
• OOH Data-driven Billboards – To activate shoppers during fashion week Topshop invested in digital billboards across the UK connected to twitter to display real-time trends. A fantastic way to be real-time relevant and capitalize on all the FOMO of fashion week by giving people something to be part of.

…and of course, their virtual makeover tool which they used to launch their venture into cosmetics. My love for this is known by my previous blog post..

So what’s next for Sir Philip Green’s giant brand? My suggestion would be RFID technology in their fitting rooms. They’ve already install RFID tags in their clothes, so why not use this to go one-step further and link it to their fitting rooms.

A company that has innovated this technology is DDB Singapore with a Musical Fitting Room. The idea from DDB Singapore was to create state-of-the-art fitting rooms at fashion stores because they say  “The youth define themselves by the type of music they listen to and by the clothes they wear.” Taking that insight, DDB combined music and fashion – two things I’ve always felt go hand-in-hand and both are very powerful forms of self-expression for the youth – so snap it up Phil! Before Urban Outfitters do…!