H&M Marketing Mix acts as a positioning strategy for the brand as the framework includes product strategy, distribution strategy, pricing strategy and multichannel promotional strategy that will help in creating the latest fashion for the style-aware young adults in the target market.
The H&M marketing strategy has been created to meet the consumer demand of the clothing retail company in more international markets. The marketing mix of H&M helps the company to take own marketing decisions for boosting customer engagement and gaining satisfied customers in the long run.
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Introduction to H&M
H&M
- Origin Country: Sweden
- Founder: Erling Persson
- Founded: 1947
- Headquarters: Stockholm, Sweden
- Employees in 2023: 155,000
- Annual Revenue in 2023: 23.147 billion USD
- Net Income in 2023: 1.002 billion USD
- Market Value in 2023: 32.080 billion USD
- Market Cap in 2023: 20.93 billion USD
H&M Group (H&M Hennes & Mauritz AB) is the second-largest clothing retail company in the world. The multinational business deals in clothing, accessories, footwear, home textiles and cosmetics.
The Swedish company is the parent company of H&M Home, Monki, Cheap Monday, Other Stories, Weekday and COS. All H&M products are sold through the H&M label and subsidiaries like H&M, Cheap Monday and COS.
The company deals with major competitors and other brands like Zara and Gucci by unveiling fashion collections at regular intervals by many clothing designers. It offers fast-fashion and on-trend lifestyle collections that depict current fashion trends in the industry.
H&M Marketing Strategy & Marketing Mix (4Ps)
The H&M marketing strategy and marketing mix has helped the brand to understand and implement product strategy, pricing strategy and advertising strategy and create an excellent supply chain to achieve the business goals. It has become one of the best clothing brands in the target market with an innumerable number of customers globally.
H&M is one of the prominent names in the fast fashion industry that offers high-quality clothes for gaining satisfied customers and the upper hand over other different brands.
Let us get an overview of the marketing mix 4Ps and marketing strategies to understand the fast fashion clothing brand in detail.
Product Strategy: Marketing Mix of H&M
The H&M marketing strategy and marketing mix has been the driving force behind the global expansion of the company in more international markets. With help of an effective product strategy and many clothing designers, the marketing strategies have helped the clothing retail company to deal with major competitors and position itself strongly in the fast fashion industry.
H&M is one of the best clothing wear brands in the fast fashion industry with a vast range of product portfolio catering to men, children, women and teenagers. It offers high-quality clothes from many clothing designers that are a favourite of young women and style-aware young adults who are on the lookout for fashionable clothes and everyday basics respectively.
Products in the H&M Marketing Strategy
The product strategy in the marketing mix and marketing strategy of H&M is focused on gaining satisfied customers like young women looking for on-trend lifestyle collections, style-aware young adults wanting everyday basics, men desiring fashion shirts, gym fanatics looking for yoga wear and adult women wanting to wear fashionable clothes of the latest fashion.
H&M is one of the best clothing wear brands in the industry with a vast range of product portfolio catering to every section of the target market. Its product strategy includes taking the help of world-renowned designers like Stella McCartney, Roberto Cavalli and Mathew Williamson for on-trend lifestyle collections and other fashion collections so that the brand name H&M becomes synonymous with the latest fashion.
The vast range of product portfolio catering to everyone in the target market includes
Women
The product strategy in the H&M marketing strategy and marketing mix targets both young as well as mature women. It offers high-quality clothes with the latest fashion trends like beautiful prints, feminine silhouettes and fresh styles like yoga wear, women’s tops, knitwear, loungewear, jackets, designer jeans, long fashion shirts and cool co-ords.
- H&M RIB KNIT TUBE TOP
- WIDE HIGH JEANS
- WOMEN’S DOUBLE-BREASTED BLAZER
Men
The product strategy in the H&M marketing strategy and marketing mix for men is focused on the latest fashion trends that are quite different from other brands. The onus is also on fashion collections that offer fast-fashion clothing for men of all age groups. The product offerings include clothes for smart, street and casual looks, shoes and accessories like everyday basics, t-shirts, jumpers, fashion shirts, knitwear, trousers, innerwear socks and jeans etc.
- RELAXED FIT PATTERNED RESORT SHIRT
- CHUNKY LOAFERS
- SUNGLASSES
Baby
The products in the H&M marketing strategy and marketing mix for small babies include products for both baby girls and boys like shoes, clothing, outerwear and accessories
- BALLET PUMPS
- WATER-REPELLENT BOOTIES
- PATTERNED FLEECE JACKET
Kids
H&M offers fast-fashion clothing for kids. The product offerings of the best clothing wear brands include shoes, sportswear, accessories, outerwear and clothing.
- COMFORT STRETCH SLIM FIT JEANS
- WARM LINED BOOTS
- GLOVES
H&M Home
The home décor range in the H&M marketing strategy and marketing mix includes decorations, bed linen, room fragrance, cookware, blankets and cushions etc.
- FITTED COTTON SHEET
- FRAGRANCE DIFFUSER
- COTTON TERRY TOWELS
Sports
The sports range in the H&M marketing strategy and marketing mix includes clothing like yoga wear, active swimwear, equipment, maternity and accessories.
- WATER-RESISTANT SKI TROUSERS
- TEDDY SPORTS JACKET
- SPORTS BELT BAG
Place Strategy: Marketing Mix of H&M
The fast fashion company has spread its product presence to 75 countries and operates via 4,801 exclusive stores located at prime locations. The first of the fashion retail outlets was opened in Vasteras, Sweden in 1947 specializing in women’s fashion for young women. With time the company undertook a global expansion plan and opened its standalone stores in more and more international markets.
H&M has created an excellent supply chain that helps to send products to retail and online stores. It offers products to franchising partners with help of selected retailers worldwide. Even Cheap Monday, one of its concept stores sold through selected retailers worldwide.
Place and Distribution Strategy in the Marketing Mix of H&M
The place and distribution strategy in the H&M marketing strategy and marketing mix put the focus on its vast distribution network that helps the company to reach end customers easily.
The distribution strategy in the marketing mix and marketing strategies of H&M includes
Retail Stores
The distribution strategy focuses on selling brand products through retail stores like standalone stores and exclusive stores located at strategic locations. The regulatory norms of some countries do not allow the brand to open its retail or flagship store then the company uses franchising partners and selected retailers worldwide to sell its products in the target market.
Online Stores
In some countries, the regulatory norms do not permit the brand to sell directly through its retail stores. The company then offers products through online stores where customers can view and place orders easily. The concept of an online store is very popular as it helps in global expansion and customer engagement easily. H&M has established its online store business in 50 countries and these are equally popular as its standalone stores and exclusive stores located at prime locations.
Concept Stores
H&M concept stores were launched as part of its expansion plan and include other brands like COS, Cheap Monday, Other Stories, Monki, Arket and Weekday etc.
Rental Clothing
H&M is one of the most popular clothing brands that offer rental clothing to retain highly profitable customers. Men can rent suits through this store for job interviews for 24 hours.
H&M Take Care for Sustainable Fashion
H&M is one of the high-profile clothing brands that takes its own marketing decisions regarding sustainable fashion. The H&M Take Care section for sustainable fashion provides hacks and tips on repairing, remaking and refreshing clothes so that they can last longer.
H&M Flagship Store
The Barcelona Flagship store is the first from the brand to have a food offering space. It has all the H&M’s beauty, home, kids and clothing range under one roof to retain highly profitable customers and keep them happy. This store has helped to boost brand image, increase customer engagement and attain business goals all at one go.
H&M Marketing Strategy & Marketing Mix: Pricing Strategy
The marketing mix pricing strategy of H&M is dependent to a great extent on its products and transportation costs.
The brand is aware that considerably lower prices attract more customers and hence makes sure that the manufacturing and transportation costs are minimal so that it can levy reasonable prices on its products. This is why its distribution strategy focuses on a smooth and excellent supply chain that will keep the manufacturing and transportation costs minimum and result in affordable prices for the products.
Price Mix: H&M Marketing Strategy
The marketing mix pricing strategy of H&M focuses on maintaining affordable prices for the products. The pricing strategy followed by the clothing company includes
Affordable Pricing Strategy
H&M faces stiff competition from major competitors in the market. It has adopted an affordable pricing strategy for most of its customers as considerably lower prices attract customers from all segments. The company has also cut down on manufacturing and transportation costs and sources raw materials from cheap locations like India, Bangladesh and China to keep affordable prices of the products.
Premium Pricing Strategy
H&M has also adopted a premium pricing strategy for some of its products. The brand offers superior quality products at premium price to celebrities and upper-class clientele. Premium price is synonymous with very high quality and when the brand levies a premium price strategy for selected products it can easily retain highly profitable customers.
Multi-Channel Promotional Strategy: Marketing Mix of H&M
The H&M marketing strategy and marketing mix focus on a multichannel promotional strategy as the wide range of its product offerings caters to several segments in the industry. These strategies ensure viable customer engagement, boost brand image and attain business goals.
The multichannel promotional strategy includes
Television Advertising Strategy
Television is one of the most popular mediums for reaching out to innumerable existing and potential customers in every nook and corner of the world. H&M has taken the help of creative ads as part of its advertising strategy and telecasts them on different channels at different times to connect with the masses. All brands under the umbrella brand H&M handle their own advertising strategy, develops creative ads and takes own marketing decisions based on their product.
Traditional Print Media
The creative ads of the brand are an integral part of its advertising strategy and besides television are shown through print media like popular fashion magazines
Social Media Marketing
The marketing mix and advertising strategy of H&M focus on social media marketing to a great extent as these platforms have higher visibility and connections in the market. H&M has its own YouTube channel which showcases unique advertising campaigns to connect with customers.
Digital Marketing
H&M uses digital marketing to convert potential customers to loyal customers.
Sales Promotion
Considerably lower prices will attract customers and this is why as part of its sales promotion strategy the company offers promo codes, discounts and coupons to lure in more customers.
Models
Renowned models that were part of the H&M brand over the years are Karen Mulder, Tyra Banks and Pamela Anderson who promoted Bathing suits and Kylie Minogue, who launched the Swimwear line.
Sustainability
The sustainability team in the H&M marketing strategy ensures that all the regulatory norms are being followed diligently across all the countries where it has operations. The brand has offered garment vouchers in exchange for used garments. The donated garments were processed for recycles and repurposes for creating a zero-waste economy. It joined other companies in making changes to the supply chain for avoiding endangered forests.
The H&M foundation
The H&M foundation, a non-profit was launched to improve environmental and humanitarian issues in the industry and also boost brand image.
H&M Digital Strategy – Notable Digital Marketing Campaigns
H&M Conscious
“H&M Conscious” was launched in 2015 for promoting sustainable initiatives
Close the Loop
The “Close the Loop” campaign was one of its kind in H&M history as the model Mariah Idrissi was wearing a hijab. Amongst the diverse group of people was an amputee and also plus-sized models
Key Takeaways in Marketing Mix of H&M
The key takeaways from the H&M marketing mix and marketing strategy are
- Focusing on the online store
- Affordable pricing strategy
- Reducing the transportation costs further
- Customer Relationship Management
- Putting more onus on social media marketing
Also read – Marketing mix of all Brands | Marketing mix of Armani | Marketing mix of Gucci
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