How did Topitop get closer to its customers and promote a better experience through a powerful conversational commerce tool?
The recent business alliance between Topitop and Chat Center unveils a new facet of Peruvian retail in the online world. After venturing into e-commerce just four years ago, Topitop launched its WhatsApp channel a few months ago. Through this channel, the company aims to establish a closer bond with its customers, provide quick and effective responses, and thereby enhance the overall shopping experience. Ultimately, the goal is to transition the channel into a transactional medium in the medium term.
| Technical Summary of the Case: Company: TopitopService: Sale of textile productsSize: Large (Approximately 10,000 employees)Location: PerúTarget Audience: Men and women aged 4 to 45Objective of Chat Center: To introduce an additional sales channel, complementary to the physical store and online platform, through optimized customer service to facilitate responses in the shortest time possible. The aim is to enhance the quality of pre-sales service, guiding customers to finalize their purchases quickly, accurately, and effectively.Achievements: While this alliance was formed recently and lacks key performance indicators to measure management’s performance to date, the experience thus far reveals the following insights:Since the initiation of management, there has been increased engagement with the brand’s audience and a more precise understanding of their needs.There has been effective utilization of online communication through instant messaging, marking significant adoption for a traditional retail.Response time has been optimized, decreasing by approximately 60% between January and February 2024, both in terms of First Response Time and Average Chatter Response.As a result of the opportunities presented by the channel, a dynamic catalog will be implemented on WhatsApp named “Best Seller,” featuring the top 100 most consulted products of the week. The aim is to boost the sales of these products. |
Forty years ago, in Peru, Topitop was born. It’s a brand with a fascinating history encapsulated by dedication, perseverance, and ingenuity. These qualities reflect the journey undertaken by the Flores brothers. In the 1960s, faced with adversity, they embarked on various challenges at a young age. Aquilino Flores, at the age of 12, began selling clothing on the streets of Lima.
In the 1980s, the brothers combined their skills to establish a textile factory. This factory officially became the Topitop brand in 1983, and in 1986, they opened their first physical store in Lima, marking the beginning of their expansion journey, leaving behind concession-based sales.
Today, with nearly 70 physical stores, 5 exclusive brands, 10,000 total employees, and a functioning e-commerce platform, Topitop not only stands as a valuable Peruvian brand but also demonstrates its constant growth vision aligned with the needs of its customers and the current consumer, who is more connected and seeks superior experiences.
In response to this quest, Topitop, alongside its strategic ally Chat Center, initiated a partnership in July 2023, representing a leap from traditional retail to conversational commerce. The primary objective is to provide immediate and effective responses to customers, offering guidance and support throughout the purchasing experience until conversion.
In an interview with Maurizio Cuneo, Topitop’s Ecommerce Manager, he reveals how the alliance is paving a new path in the brand’s interaction with its customers, who are just beginning to engage with this channel.
Maurizio highlights the challenge of educating the internal team about e-commerce and the need to bridge the gap between the physical store and the online channel. Meanwhile, the alliance with Chat Center allows Topitop to get closer to its consumers, enabling them to interact and receive immediate responses via WhatsApp.
During the pandemic, the implementation of e-commerce emphasized the need to connect with consumers, which Chat Center facilitated by enhancing communication and proximity through chat. For the organization’s Ecommerce Manager, the conversational channel is gaining relevance, aiming to become a connection channel, actively listening to customers, and also facilitating sales within approximately a year.
Although the goal of turning WhatsApp into a conversion channel for Topitop is a long-term idea, Maurizio highlighted the significant penetration of online sales through email marketing, reaching double digits in terms of total online sales. He doesn’t expect both channels to match that percentage, but he sees the unification of perception points positively, aiming to achieve superior purchasing experiences, regardless of where the sale ultimately takes place. The key is ensuring that consumers reach that point through a positive experience and continue to have it during and after the purchase.
Regarding this, Topitop’s Ecommerce representative stated, “The alliance with Chat Center facilitated the approach to the consumer they were seeking and enabled quick responses, significantly improving the shopping experience.”
It is important to note that, to achieve this immediacy with relevant communication quality and in line with the brand’s tone, Chat Center’s intervention reduced response time by 60%, achieving a trend towards zero in First Response Time (FRT) and Average Chatter Response (ACR).
January:
February:
This graph illustrates a trend towards zero waiting times. “Considering that this time includes chats that come in outside of business hours, it could be said that the response time is almost EXCELLENT,” said Valentina Lawson, Chat Center’s Team Leader.
This reduction in time, trending towards zero, is visualized in the following graph:
If you want to explore more about the importance of response time in sales, click the link to read our blog post on this topic.
On the other hand, the Chat Center Team Leader revealed, “Although 3% of messages may lead to sales, knowing it’s a low number at present, 25% of messages specifically encourage customers to visit physical stores.” This statement came after confirming that these are preliminary numbers, challenging to measure accurately when the company is primarily focusing on approaching and supporting the customer, confident that sales will follow as a consequence of their efforts to optimize the experience.
However, the goal of monetizing this purpose in the medium term remains within Topitop’s scope. Currently, the company is working with Chat Center on implementing a catalog on WhatsApp featuring selected products, labeled as “Best Sellers” for being the most viewed or consumed items. This catalog will include the top 100 Best Sellers and will be refreshed weekly.
To promote this channel and establish it as a potential purchasing channel, Topitop is running exclusive campaigns.
Regarding customer satisfaction, Maurizio acknowledges that they are not formally measuring it yet but hope to implement evaluation systems in the future. The interview concludes with Topitop’s short-term vision, including the implementation of abandoned cart strategies.
The alliance between Topitop and Chat Center is not only transforming how they interact with customers but also positioning Topitop as a brand embracing new trends in online commerce in Peru. This success story reflects the importance of adapting to industry changes to remain relevant and close to consumers, always.
Chat Center es una empresa especialista en WhatsApp Commerce. Convertimos WhatsApp de empresas alrededor de Latinoamérica en un potente canal de ventas. Si estás interesado en conocer más sobre cómo WhatsApp puede generar ventas para tu empresa, haz click en el siguiente enlace.
