Since last year, the H&M group has started a strategy that has ended in the closure of many French and foreign stores. Is your city’s H&M store threatened this year?
A new story has started to write to H&M. Since last summer, the Swedish brand, well installed in the world of ready-to-wear, has started a 360 ° strategic turn. It all started with a short -term digital detox, where the brand’s Instagram suddenly emptied from any past publication to display a complete vacuum, leaving the scammer subscribers somewhat worried. A blank page that actually announced the start of a well -crafted strategy …
Indeed, like Zara, Hennes & Mauritz started a kind of brand premiumization, strengthening its side “Elusive mid -range”with “A positioning (price) above Shein but below Zara” (Business of Fashion)),, And accessible clothes but with a more assertive style. The objective? 1) Facing an ever more fast fast fashion, responsible for a frantic mass production; 2) Detach yourself from the bad image linked to it, in a world more aware of eco-responsibility issues.
Result: fewer shops, but a redesigned physical shopping experience, with futuristic decorations mixing metal and red signature, trendy musical atmosphere and “second hand” collection. We let you admire the flagship located 1-3 rue La Fayette in Paris to get an idea.
But does that mean that other French shops will close this year? It is enough to look at their evolution on hexagonal territory to see that these fears are justified. In 2023, Statist listed 197 points of sale H&M. In 2024, there were only 169 left after Pär Lindbäck, Managing Director of H&M France. On the world side, the H&M group has closed nearly 116 shops in total last year, all signs combined, according to LSA CONSO. So what will he be this year? Is your city store threatened?
A priori, no reason to worry. In the columns of the magazine, Pär Lindbäck said that the Scandinavian label was not intended to close a store in France for the moment: “In a globally stable market from the Cavid pandemic, the challenge, for us, is neither to open nor close shops but rather, to know how to adapt them to the expectations of current consumption”. Remarks collected following the opening of the French store of Westfield Parly 2 last May, which have something to reassure on the dynamics started.
The strategic effort will now be focused on the renovation of already existing points of sale. On the program, these are 250 renovations planned through the globe, with pop-up launches to complete this redesigned creative vision (Business of Fashion). Following this desire, a dozen French points of sale were thus renovated last year. A strategy Less is morewhich aims to consolidate the territories acquired rather than to massively conquer new regions. Case to follow very closely.
