Topshop teases a possible high street return – but do the public actually want it back?

Topshop recently shared a teaser to its Instagram followers consisting of three words: “Watch this space”. This has sparked rumours that the retailer will be returning to UK high streets – which its new owners had hinted at last year after they purchased a 75% stake in the brand.

The teaser has already led to excited headlines about Topshop and Topman potentially opening physical stores. But will this excitement translate among the UK public?

YouGov BrandIndex UK – which asks consumers a range of questions about a host of brands every day – suggests that, as of our latest data, Topshop and Topman aren’t quite at the level of the average high street brand in terms of public perceptions. Impression scores, which measure overall sentiment, are at 10.9 for the average fashion brand; scores for Topshop (4.9) and Topman (2.9) are lower. The numbers are different for our Quality (Average: 12.0; Topshop: 1.7; Topman: 2.9) and Consideration (Average: 9.4; Topshop: 6.8; Topman: 4.8) measures, but the story is broadly the same.

Topshop and Topman, of course, have been away from the high street for some time, and it’s worth bearing this in mind ahead of their (still only rumoured) return. Looking at Impression scores today, for example, might not paint the best picture, and these scores are barely better if we look at younger consumers aged 18-34 who have made up much of each brand’s target audience (Average: 9.8; Topshop: 4.5; Topman: 5.3).

But it was a different story among this younger audience five years ago (2 March 2020) – before the pandemic, and before it entered administration. Back then, scores for Topshop (14.0) were better than the industry average (11.3), and scores for Topman were close to it (11.1). If these brands make their way back to the high street, their success may depend on whether they can recapture this younger audience’s attention – at a time when other brands competing for the same customers (such as Boohoo) are struggling.

This article originally appeared in City A.M.