The Bucharest University of Economic Studies

H&M
H & M Hennes
& Mauritz AB

English Project realised by: Stancu Alina

Group 311, Series B

(H&M) (Swedish
pronunciation: [
hnns ma.
rts]) is a
Swedish
multinational
retail-clothing
company, known
for its fast-

Fashion and Quality at the best Price!

fashion clothing
for men, women,
teenagers and
children.
H&M exists in 57
countries with
over 3,500 stores
and as of 2015
employed around
132,000 people.
The first store
was opened on
the high street of
Vsters, Sweden
in 1947. It had
2,325 stores at
the end of 2011,

H&M
Type
Traded as

Aktiebolag (retail-clothing company)

Bucharest 2015
OMX: HM B

Industry

Retail

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2,629 stores at the end of August 2012 and opened its 3,000th store in September 2013 in
Chengdu, China.[1] It is ranked the second largest global clothing retailer, just behind Spainbased Inditex (parent company of Zara), and leads over the third largest global clothing
retailer, United States based Gap Inc.
The design team in the company's Sweden office controls the steps of production, from
merchandise planning to establishing specifications, and production is outsourced to
approximately 800 factories in Europe and Asia. These facilities are used for horizontal
division of labour, rather than being integrated.

Summary for HENNES & MAURITZ

H&M is a clothing store who has markets in Asia, Europe, Middle East & Northern
Africa and North America which consists of 2,600 stores.
The company works consists of five individual brands such as H&M, COS, Monki,
Weekday and Cheap Monkey. This insures that the stores will have a variety of styles
for all age groups.
H&M targets infants, young adults and also working and retired individuals.
Consumers can purchase the latest clothing items, shoes or accessories for a low cost
much cheaper than H&MS competitors.

Business Concept
H&M believes that giving the customer unbeatable value by offering fashion and
quality at the best price is what makes them successful.
Social Media
H&M remains relevant in the fashion world by keeping their markets engaged
through their Twitter, Facebook and YouTube accounts.
Consumers can be kept update with the trends, sales and ideas on three social
networks.
Increasing Awareness
Social media is at an increasing rate and there are no longer age barriers affecting the
effectiveness.
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More and more of the baby boom generation are members of social sites, aiming
towards them in these networks will increase the H&M brand.
Internet Marketing
Internet marketing is very imperative because it keeps a brand relevant.
To increase H&Ms internet marketing, weekly promotions in-store and on-line and
contests will be incorporated in the companys Facebook and Twitter page.
Digital Strategy
The target audience for the digital strategy would consist of men and women between
the ages of 50-75 years old.
Awareness to this specific target audience is the goal set forth with attempt promote to
those who are brand loyal to clothing stores such as JCPennys Macys and Sears.
Fashion Show
To promote the company to the intended target audience, a fashion show will take
place in an area with a high volume of individuals between 50-65 years old.
The name of the fashion show will be named From new, to Old.

History
In 1946 the company's founder Erling Persson was on a trip to the United States and came up
with the business idea of offering fashionable clothing at attractive prices. In 1947 he opened
his first shop Vsters, Sweden "Hennes", which exclusively sold women's clothing.
"Hennes" is Swedish and means "for her" and/or "hers". In 1968 Persson acquired the hunting
apparel retailer Mauritz Widforss, which led to the inclusion of a menswear collection in the
product range and the name change to "Hennes & Mauritz" (H&M). In 1998, the company
successfully gained control over the initials "HM" for its Internet domain HM.com.

Location
Romania
On 25 March 2011, the first store in Romania was opened in the shopping mall AFI Palace
Cotroceni in Bucharest, Romania. In November 2013 it has 28 stores and 700 employees.

Marketing
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In 2008, the company used the song "Hang On" by British singer-songwriter Lettie as
background music to its UK website. Their fashions have been featured in an interactive
fashion art film by Imagine Fashion called Decadent Control. It premiered in March 2011 and
stars Roberto Cavalli, Kirsty Hume, Eva Herzigov and Brad Kroenig.

Guest-designer collaborations
In November 2004, selected company stores offered an exclusive collection by fashion
designer Karl Lagerfeld. The press reported large crowds and that the initial inventories in the
larger cities were sold out within an hour,[54] although the clothes were still available in less
fashion-sensitive areas until the company redistributed them to meet with demand.
In November 2005, the company launched a collection by Stella McCartney and, in
November 2006, by avant-garde Dutch designers Viktor & Rolf.
In March 2007, it launched another collaboration designed by the pop star Madonna.[56] In
June 2007 the company worked with game developers Maxis to create a stuff pack for the
latter's The Sims 2 computer game, H&M Fashion Stuff.
In November 2007, the company launched a collection by Italian designer Roberto Cavalli. It
was reported that the clothing sold out very quickly. Also in 2007, another design with Kylie
Minogue was launched in Shanghai, China.In the spring of 2008 the Finnish company
Marimekko was selected as guest designer and was followed by Japanese Comme des
Garons in the fall.
For spring and summer 2009, the British designer Matthew Williamson created two exclusive
ranges for the company the first being a collection of women's clothes released in selected
stores. The second collection saw Williamson branch into menswear for the first time, only in
selected stores. The second collection also featured swimwear for men and women and was
available in every company store worldwide.
On 14 November 2009, the company released a limited-edition diffusion collection by Jimmy
Choo featuring shoes and handbags, ranging from 30 to 170 including a range of men's
shoes. The collection also included clothing designed by Choo for the first time, many
garments made from suede and leather, and was available in 200 stores worldwide, including
London's Oxford Circus store. Sonia Rykiel also collaborated with the company, by designing
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a ladies knitwear and lingerie range that was released in selected company stores on 5
December 2009.
For Fall 2010, the company collaborated with French fashion house Lanvin for its 2010 guest
designer.
For Spring/Summer 2011, the company collaborated with fashion blogger Elin Kling, which
was available at selected stores only.
In June 2011, H&M announced a collaboration plan with Versace, that was released on 19
November. Versace also planned a Spring collaboration with H&M that was only be available
in countries with online sales.Similar to previous collaborations Versace agreed to let H&M
use the renowned name of the company for a previously agreed upon sum,without actually
having a role in the design process.
In November 2011, H&M announced a collaboration plan with Marni, that launched in
March 2012. The campaign was directed by award-winning director Sofia Coppola.
On 4 October 2012, Japanese Vogue editor Anna Dello Russo will launched an accessories
collection at H&M as Paris Fashion Week drew to an end. The collection was stocked in 140
H&M stores worldwide and also sold through the H&M website.
On 12 June 2012 H&M confirmed that it will launch a collaboration with avant-garde label
Maison Martin Margiela for a fall rollout. The Maison Martin Margiela collection for H&M
hit stores on 15 November 2012.
Isabel Marant was a collaboration designer for Fall 2013 and for the first time made a men's
collection to accompany the women's collection. The collaboration was sold out very quickly
in cities across the globe and was heavily anchored in sales online as well.
Alexander Wang was announced as a collaboration to be released 6 November 2014 across
the world to a select 250 stores. The announcement came during the Coachella Valley Music
and Arts Festival in California and will be the first collaboration with an American designer.
Beyonc was the face of H&M in summer 2013. Her campaign, which began in May 2013
was entitled "Mrs. Carter in H&M", and drew heavily on Knowles' personal style.
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Balmain was announced as the next collaboration with H&M to be released in November
2015. The announcement came from Balmain designer Olivier Rousteing Instagram page.

Brand
The branding consultancy Interbrand ranked the company as the twenty-first most-valuable
global brand in 2009 and 2010,making it the highest-ranked retailer in the survey. Its worth
has been estimated at $1216 billion.
The full company name Hennes & Mauritz was rebranded to H&M to simplify worldwide
perception of the brand.
The company owns the two-letter domain hm.com. The domain was registered in the early
1990s, but data on the first registration is lost. In 1998 Hennes & Mauritz was able to buy the
domain hm.com from a company called A1 in a non-published domain transaction.
In addition to the H&M brand, the company consists of five other brands
COS (Collection of Style)
Launched with a catwalk show at the Royal Academy in 2007, COS is an up-market brand
positioned at a slightly higher price point to that typically associated with H&M's fast fashion
offerings. COS is currently operating globally with a total of 116 stores worldwide and ecommerce in 19 markets at cosstores.com.

Home furnishing
In a press release, the company announced that it would begin selling home furnishings.As of
2009, it was distributed exclusively by the company's internet catalog, so it is only available
in countries where H&M is sold online, such as Denmark, Finland, Germany, the
Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the UK, and now the United States. The first and only H&M
Home in all America opened in Mxico in March 2013.

Philanthropy
By 2012 H&M had based over US$4.5 million through a 5-year partner program with
UNICEF.

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Starting in February 2013, H&M will offer patrons a voucher in exchange for used garments.
Donated garments will be processed by I:CO, a retailer that repurposes and recycles used
clothing with the goal of creating a zero-waste economy. The initiative is similar to a clothescollection voucher program launched in April 2012 by Marks & Spencer in partnership with
Oxfam

Conclusion
With the intended success from the fashion show, more people would become brand loyal to
the company, increasing awareness and overall success for the company.

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