The news that H&M has built its store in the metaverse was the talk of the town. Later, the company executives denied the fan-based news but still, people don’t know the news was false. This gave the brand a huge buzz across the globe as it was supposed to be one of the first brands to gain that traction in the WEB 3.0 space.
Despite the fan-based news which some might call the truth, it is not to be doubted that ever since the fashion industry had become the move of the hour, it has had a great influence on our lives. It’s hard-to-find people in Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 cities not knowing about brands like Zara, H&M, Marks & Spencer, Benetton Group, and many more. So, for this blog, let's peep into H&M, which is the second-largest Fashion Retail in the World, now promoting both ethnic and western wear in the land of Diversity and Culture i.e. India.
Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M) is a Swedish multinational clothing company headquartered in Stockholm, founded back in 1947. It is known for its fast-fashion clothing for children, teenagers, men, and women. As of November 2019, H&M operates in 74 nations with over 5,000 stores under different organization brands, it also has online stores in over 33 countries. Ever pondered how H&M made the mark and survived the tough competition?
(Source: Annual Report of H&M, 2020)
H&M’s mission statement is “to drive long-lasting positive change and improve living conditions by investing in people, communities, and innovative ideas.” This assertion clarifies the way that the brand presents its style and plans to the world through the change of shopping experience and the improvement of the lives of people.
Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning Analysis
The brand knows well how to place its product in the market and which customer it is aiming at. They have segmented their product into Class and age- basically, those coming into the middle and upper class of the age group 15-30 years by offering low-cost prices to extravagant products with a great choice of fashion. H&M fundamentally targets popular and moving buyers who are particularly intrigued to spend their cash on buying great garments. H&M positions itself as a fast-fashion clothing retailer which is made on its own or at its rented outlets and is exported worldwide through their distributive channels.
Marketing Strategy
In contemporary times, a marketer needs to come up with the best permutations and combinations to reach out to the targeted audience and to sell the product as well. H&M has been trying various marketing strategies to engage with its customers in the most trendy way. Let’s have a look over them:-
Affordable Pricing
Price is a very crucial component of marketing. This industry is highly driven by price and quality of products. H&M gives access to these premium brand clothes at affordable prices. Its price is low as compared to its competitors like Zara and Gap. To make it more lucrative H&M comes out with various offers and discounts on their products, they also offer promo code discounts- attracting customers even further.
Celebrity Association
Celebrity endorsement by H&M to feature their product tends to attract a lot of customers, this is because customers look up to the celebrity for what they do and follow it. H&M features many celebrities like Kendall Jenner, Giambattista Valli, Harshvardhan Kapoor, Aditi Rao Hydari, Diana Penty, and many more to promote their collections.
Collaborations
H&M has been collaborating with different fashion brands across the industry for a long time to roll out its limited-edition designer collections. Although these collaborations amount to a minute percentage of its total sales, the marketing impact is said to be measured in thousands of millions of media impressions, which acts as a significant booster and helps build the brand a positive perception and drive consumers to H&M stores. It has collaborated with brands such as Karl Lagerfeld, Versace, Alexander Wang, etc. It was recently associated with Sabyasachi, an Indian fashion brand in 2021 which created a lot of buzz for its products in domestic markets.
Social Media Marketing
H&M collaboration and appearances among the most influential people in the industry have gathered its followers over the years. With more than 40 million likes on Facebook, 38 million followers on Instagram, and 8 million followers on Twitter, H&M is ruling its social media community where it promotes its product aesthetically. It has leveraged the power of social media by creating specific pages for its men’s collection, kids’ collection, and beauty products.
H&M has fostered Inclusivity of different sections of society. Their Instagram handle propagates fashion by including people with benchmark disabilities, people of color, different sexual and gender expression or orientation.
Forming Customer Community
In the modern world, customer loyalty is one of the most crucial factors in the creation and sustenance of any brand. H&M runs a Digital Loyalty Program where members get points on every purchase. Remarketing has become one of the primary motives in today’s marketing campaigns. H&M tries to keep engaging with its existing customer base to flourish the loyalty among customers and to expand the community.
Marketing Campaigns
H&M has fostered Inclusivity of different sections of society. Thier Instagram handle propagates fashion by including people with benchmark disabilities, people of colour, different sexual and gender expression or orientation.
Some of the collaborations over the years are:
In 2004, H&M collaborated with Karl Lagerfeld
In 2011, H&M collaborated with Versace
In 2014, H&M collaborated with Alexander Wang
In 2015, H&M collaborated with Balmain
In 2021, H&M collaborated with Sabyasachi
H&M’s Sustainable Initiatives
In 2010 H&M launched its Conscious Collection of clothing made from organic cotton, recycled polyester, and other sustainable materials. Under it they initiated the Garment Collecting initiative, to close the loop for textiles, making H&M the first fashion company to collect old textiles in stores globally for reuse and recycling.
H&M’s Pride Collection
The company produces their pride line of collection in countries such as Turkey, Bangladesh, and China which are Anti-LGBTQIA legislations. They contribute 10% of the proceeds from its Pride collection to the “UN Free & Equal Campaign”.
H&M X Balmain
Fast-fashion giant H&M and Balmain designer Olivier Rousteing hosted a runway show and an afterparty to formally debut the results of their collaboration — Balmain x H&M — an accessibly-priced collection of more than 100 pieces for both men and women, set to go on sale in select H&M stores around the globe, as well as online, on November 5th, 2015.
H&M: India Way
They collaborated with the celebrated Indian designer Sabyasachi in 2021. The collection was named Sabyasachi x H&M. Before releasing the season's collection, they fuel people's curiosity by promoting it on social media platforms. The brands mostly target the teens, to get their attention, they make sure their brand pops up on every online platform and publicize it by the influencers with a large following. They also feature models in different skin colors and sizes, giving the notion that fashion pertains to everyone irrespective of their skin color or size.
Conclusion
With extensive collaborations, impactful media campaigns, and customer-centric marketing, H&M has proved how you can be one of the most influential players in the dynamic fashion industry. This can be seen as the brand has sustainably existed in the market for the past 75 years. They have placed their stores strategically across the globe keeping their manufacturing partners even closer so that the orders can be met on time and have successful conversions.
https://marqueex.com/marketing-strategy-of-hm-selling-passion-for-fashion/#Marketing_Strategy_of_HM
https://iide.co/blog/case-study-on-hm/
https://www.uniassignment.com/essay-samples/marketing/h-m-and-its-strategy-for-the-indian-market-marketing-essay.php
https://www.businesstoday.in/latest/corporate/story/h-and-m-aims-to-be-preferred-fashion-choice-for-indian-masses-250959-2020-02-27
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/marketing/marketing-and-market-entry-strategy-in-india-marketing-essay.php