Sweden-based international fashion brand H&M has put in line its new growth target to increase the Group’s sales by 10-15 per cent in local currencies per year with continued high profitability.
With a strong portfolio of more than 4,300 stores, the brand plans to open approximately 430 new stores net in the FY ’16-17. Kazakhstan, Colombia, Iceland, Vietnam and Georgia are planned to become new H&M’s bricks-and-mortar markets along with its online roll-out into six new markets: Turkey, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore and Malaysia.
Continuing with the strong expansions, H&M is looking forward to deliver strong collections and customer experiences with the launch of one or two new brands in current year.
Also Read – H&M posts 8% boom in fourth quarter sales
Furthermore, having a significant share of online sales in fashion retailer’s total sales, the company is making investments in digitalization and infrastructure in the following focus areas: Omni-channel strategy in which the fashion label integrates the digital and physical world to offer customers a more seamless shopping experience like online purchases and online returns in stores, click & collect, mobile payments etc.; upgrading of supply chain with introduction of RFID and automatized warehouses and new options such as next day delivery in five markets and time-slot deliveries in Japan; and advanced analytics to improve everything from assortment planning and logistics to sales.
Karl-Johan Persson, CEO, H&M commented, “Store expansions combined with the ongoing improvements and our investments in the omni-channel offering, the supply chain and advanced analytics make us positive towards our opportunities for reaching our newly rephrased growth target, both in 2017 and going forward.”
