H&M to test sales of external brands

Yesterday, H&M Group announced that their budget fashion chain, H&M, which represents the majority of Group sales, will trial selling external brands and products. A major change of strategy.

Attracting new customers

Some of the newer, smaller brands in the fashion group, such as & Other Stories and Arket, already sell a selection of external brands alongside their own products. A move in this same direction would seem to imply a fundamental change in strategy for H&M and a step closer to entering into direct competition with online multi-brand retailers such as Zalando in Germany and ASOS in the UK.

A spokesman for the Swedish fashion company said to Reuters that supplementing its own collection with external brands would hopefully attract new customers, although further details about the trial were not forthcoming. The world’s second largest fashion store—after Inditex—has seen its profits fall for three consecutive years. Yesterday, the group reported another sales increase of 8% for the third quarter (at constant exchange rates), although analysts and investors are still fearful that profits will once again prove disappointing. The final figures will follow on 3 October.