The Male App Market - Competition

I've been analysing ASOS Menswear competition over the last few weeks and then from that trying to Pinpoint LOWDOWNS competition. From looking at the Menswear high street and online market I have created the below positioning map. As ASOS sell many brands it's been easy to set it closely amongst Topman and River Island, especially because they already stock River Island. The ASOS Menswear price point is slightly lower than some of its main competitors but slightly higher than H and M. Many of the rival brands have their own Menswear shopping app such as Topman and Mr Porter where it is separated from Womenswear. However River Island for example is integrated into just one app with womenswear. In terms of purely shopping this is how ASOS operates and that works well.

When looking at competition for a branded Menswear content app it was really difficult. No other rival brands seem to have a dedicated app platform for content, only small blog sections on their website.

Topman

- http://magazine.topman.com/ (accessed 02/11/13)

Topman have a dedicated website linked from the Topman website. The content on the the site is separated into Fashion, Music, Culture and Lifestyle and there is some really interesting editorial on there. They also have a good mix of product links and non sales related articles. However this is not available on a app/tablet device just a mobile website which has user experience implications.

Mr Porter - The Journal

http://www.mrporter.com/journal (accessed 13/11/13)

Mr Porter have a dedicated website/blog for men on the website which is integrated into the Mr Porter site. It is a weekly digital magazine with new content being published every Tuesday, it is currently on its 142nd issue. The content is really well written and very much specific to their target consumer (too high brow and luxury for the ASOS Male) but the basic ideas are really interesting and should be noted. To have so many issues it is obviously working well for them. You can also click from the Issue to shop any products featured directly from the site. This is key and will be how LOWDOWN will generate sales for ASOS by linking through to the ASOS app. It is however key to note that 'The Journal' is not available on their shopping app so needs to be accessed from the full site on a mobile which can be tricky to use on a small device.

River Island

http://www.riverisland.com/men - (accessed 02/11/13)

Had not editorial content on their website of the than product linked features

H and M

http://www.hm.com/gb/department/MEN (accessed 03/11/13)

Again very little in terms of content and only a few product features

Urban Outfitters

http://www.urbanoutfitters.co.uk/mens/icat/mens (accessed 03/11/13)

No Male specific engaging content/editorial at all.

When looking purely at Male content apps etc there are the likes of GQ etc. However these are all paid for app and don't represent a brand extension for a brand so in that sense aren't really relevant. However reading through the GQ site online gives inspiration for content relevant to Males.