A strategic opening
If the opening of a new H&M point of sale is making headlines, it’s not for nothing. Indeed, since the start of the health crisis, the Swedish ready-to-wear brand has been closing stores with all its might. It went from 235 contact points in 2019 to 168 before the reopening of the Parly 2 flagship. For the brand, the objective is no longer to strengthen its territorial network but to restructure its fleet.
This strategy seems to be paying off for the company which recorded a turnover of more than one billion euros for its eight brands in 2023. Results which barely declined last year despite the closure of eight stores. Last year, a point of sale of the brand generated an average of 5 million euros in turnover, a little more than in 2019. Thus, H&M has set itself the objective of relaunching sales to reach 10 to 15% growth per year globally. To do this, the brand is revisiting its customer journey and dusting off its offering.
To achieve this objective, the Swedish fashion brand reviewed its strategy in 2022, and announced the elimination of 1,500 positions worldwide in order to reduce its costs and compensate for the drop in sales. In 2023, around a hundred stores around the world will close their doors.
It is in considering this context that the opening of the Parly 2 flagship is surprising. However, the catchment area of the Westfield shopping center offers the brand 7.6 million potential customers residing in the surrounding area.
Between a revisited customer journey and refined colors, this flagship aims to dust off H&M’s image, which has not been very modern in the eyes of consumers in recent years.
Source: www.ecommercemag.fr
