H&M OPENS FIRST AUSTRALIAN STORE IN MELBOURNE

Peter Ling, RMIT University

Over 3000 shoppers queued for hours, some overnight, when Swedish fashion store
H&M opened its first Australian branch in Melbourne on 5 April 2014. The queues
continued outside the H&M store in Bourke street even weeks after the official
opening.
While well-travelled Australians had already known about the brand overseas
and through online shopping, the well-planned pre-launch marketing and public relations
activities did contribute to building awareness of the H&M store opening.
As early as September 2013, H&M announced through Facebook and Twitter
that it would open its Australian store in 2014. Online bloggers, digital media and news
media then picked up the story. In March 2014, H&M announced that Australian model
Miranda Kerr would be its ambassador for its spring campaign. The H&M video on
Miranda Kerr showed her changing to different casual wear and taking ‘selfie’ pictures
which she sent to her friend waiting in a taxi. Pre-launch advertisements also featured
Miranda Kerr in a $29 light jacket.
H&M also organised a graphic design competition for fashion and textile
students of RMIT University. The students designed a contemporary print for a
children’s sports bag and t-shirt. Student Sharon Clues won the competition with her t-
shirt design featuring a textured graphic of the iconic heritage-listed Melbourne GPO
building where H&M is located. H&M offered Sharon’s design as a gift-with-purchase
during the launch opening. Sharon won a $1000 cash prize, $1000 H&M shopping spree
and VIP launch party tickets.
There was also collaboration with magazines. Vogue staged a preview of an
exclusive Australian design collection in Federation Square in Melbourne and ran a
‘your best style’ photo competition, with winners receiving tickets to the VIP launch
party. Elle Australia had a special H&M issue in April 2014 featuring actress Emma
Watson on the cover and also an online campaign through elle.com.au.
The final pre-launch activity was a VIP launch party for 1000 guests on 4 April
2014, a day before the public launch in Melbourne. The VIPs included fashion editors,
designers, models, bloggers, the Californian band Haim, DJs and winners of the Vogue
Magazine’s ‘your best style’ photo competition.

H&M HERITAGE
The H&M name itself is an attraction. H&M is positioned as ‘fashion and quality at the best
price’. The store first opened in Sweden in 1947 under the name Hennes selling women’s
clothing. When founder Erling Persson bought over Mauritz Widforss in 1968 and started
selling men’s and children’s clothing, the store became Hennes & Mauritz or H&M.
H&M then opened its store in London in 1976; Germany and the Netherlands in
the 1980s; France in 1998; New York and Spain in 2000; the Middle East in 2006; Hong
Kong and Shanghai in 2007; Tokyo in 2008; Russia, Beijing and Lebanon in 2009;
South Korea, Turkey and Israel in 2010; Romania, Croatia, Singapore, Morocco and
Jordan in 2011; Bulgaria, Latvia, Malaysia, Mexico and Thailand in 2012; and Chile,
Estonia, Lithuania, Serbia and Indonesia in 2013. H&M is also planning to open stores
in India and the Philippines in 2014 as well as Peru and South Africa in 2015. It is also
reported to be opening 55 stores in Australia in the next few years.

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 H&M has now spread to 3200 stores in 54 countries, with franchise stores in the
Middle East, Lebanon, Israel, Morocco, Jordan, Thailand and Indonesia. It has the most
stores in Germany (421), the United States (308), the United Kingdom (245), China
(228), France (197) and Sweden (177). H&M is also available online in the United
States and 10 European markets.
Besides the H&M brand, the Hennes & Mauritz AB group has independent
brands targeting different segments, such as COS (Collection of Style high-end designs),
Monki (streetwear for young women), Weekday (jeans-focused fashion), Cheap Monday
(street fashion denim range) and ‘& Other Stories’ (selling jewellery, cosmetics, bags,
shoes and clothes). COS opened its Australian store in The Strand Melbourne arcade in
2014.

DESIGN COLLABORATIONS
A design-oriented company, H&M has collaborated with famous international designers
such as Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney, Elio Fiorucci, Solange Azagury-Partridge, Viktor
& Rolf, Roberto Cavalli, Rei Kawakubo, Comme des Garçons, Matthew Williamson,
Jimmy Choo, Sonia Rykiel, Lanvin, Versace, Marni, Maison Martin Margiela and Isabel
Marant.
Collaborations with style icons include Madonna, Kylie Minogue, David
Beckham, Anna Dello Russo and Beyoncé. H&M’s social collaborations have included
Fashion Against Aids, Knotted Gun and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The H&M
YouTube website also features a Guy Ritchie-directed video of David Beckham in his
bodywear running across neighbours’ backyards to try to retrieve his bathrobe that was
caught in a family car door.
Being a global fashion company that produces ‘fast fashion’ with quick
production cycles and low prices, H&M works with 900 suppliers and 1900 factories in
poor countries. Although H&M does not own any factory, it works with governments,
trade unions and non-government organisations to ensure fair wages for textile workers.
H&M also commits to responsible marketing, targeting parents for children’s clothes,
and advocates children’s rights in poor communities.

COMPETITION
With its 2014 entry into Australia, H&M joins international brands such as Gap, Zara,
Topshop and Uniqlo competing with local brands for the $21 billion clothing retail industry
and the fast-growing online clothing industry worth $600 million.
American brand Gap with its casual aesthetic style first entered the Australian
market in 2010 in Victoria’s Chadstone Shopping Centre and Westfield Sydney. This
was followed by the third Australian store in Melbourne Central in 2011.
When the Spanish fashion chain Zara with 1900 stores worldwide opened for
business in Sydney and Melbourne in 2011, there were also queues for Zara quality
blouses and silk tops. Competitors such as Just Jeans and Forever New had to adjust
their opening hours to remain competitive. Zara now has nine stores in Australia.
Young girls also camped overnight to get a piece of the younger British fashion brand
Topshop, which opened a store in Melbourne in 2011 to join 750 stores across 32
countries. Topshop now has four stores in Australia.
Uniqlo is the Japanese ‘Unique Clothing Warehouse’ chain with 1300 stores
worldwide and has Australian golfer Adam Scott as its global brand ambassador. Known for

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its cashmere knits, Uniqlo also opened its first Australian branch in Melbourne in April 2014
in the new Emporium Melbourne shopping centre.
The Emporium Melbourne itself, a $1.2 billion project of Australian and
Singapore developers, houses the largest Australian designer collections under one roof
and is seen as ‘Australian fashion’s saving grace’. Emporium Melbourne hopes to attract
fashion-conscious Australians to local brands on Level 2, such as Saba, Sass & Bide,
Scanlan Theodore, Seed Heritage, Shakuhachi, Skin and Threads, Sportscraft, White
Suede, Willow, Witchery and Zimmerman. Interestingly, Emporium Melbourne is also
connected to David Jones and Myer through covered bridges and hence promotes
Australian fashions as well as foreign brands on various levels throughout the shopping
centre.
Would the Melbourne fashion week and the Mercedes-Benz fashion week in
Sydney continue to boost Australian fashions? Or would the younger well-travelled
segments prefer the foreign brands? Some Australian retailers are lamenting that the
foreign brands are ‘killing’ the local industry but other retailers welcome the foreign
presence as they attract more shoppers to stores and online.

QUESTIONS
1. How did H&M create presence for its Melbourne store opening?
2. What makes H&M attractive to Australian shoppers?
3. Why do you think foreign fashion brands are opening up stores in Australia?
4. How do you see Australian fashion brands competing against foreign brands?

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