Kelsey Conklin
Lacey Jones
Caroline Johnston
Emily Rose
SMHM 3850
Final Report
Group 10- Fashion
Group Name- ELCK
1. Overview
1.1 Executive Summary
H&M has been a relatively successful business since its first store opening in 1947. At
that time, the Swedish store had a different name and sold only women’s clothing. By
1968, a men’s clothing store in Stockholm was acquired by the company and changed
its name to Hennes and Mauritz. The abbreviated name, H&M, came about in 1982 and
since then the store sells men’s, women’s, and children’s clothing, as well as accessories
and cosmetics, in over 900 store locations in eighteen countries across the world. H&M
is the name of the store, but the names Hennes and Mauritz can be found on the care
tag of each item of clothing sold in H&M stores. (www.hm.com)
1.2 Overview
While H&M is successful in its current stores, it is just recently expanding to Texas, with
stores only in the Dallas area. Since it is new to the state, and other locations in the
United States are few, Texas consumers are generally not familiar with the brand. The
goal is to reposition H&M as a brand that loyal consumers, ages 16-24, will shop, enjoy,
and tell their friends about the store. High school and college students will be heavily
marketed; word-of-mouth advertising and medias specific to this age group will be most
effective during this campaign.
2. Situational Analysis
2.1 Cultural Context
The new target market, high school and college men and women ages 16-24, will love
to be loyal shoppers at H&M by the end of this campaign. These consumers spend
their days on different technological mediums, including smart phones, tablets, and
computers. They have access to just about anything at their fingertips, and can find
information quickly. These consumers have grown up in an e-commerce, technological
world. They listen to their peers and information they find on social medias and in
magazines.
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2.2 Historical Context
H&M’s current promotional strategy includes a series of 20-second commercials
broadcasted on a few channels. H&M is selling clothing, cosmetics, and accessories at
a very reasonable price. The places in the United States, specifically Texas, are few
and far between, but they do each carry a ton of product. “…[Every] H&M store is
restocked daily. A high-volume store…can receive as many as three truckloads of
clothing a day.” (www.time.com) The placement and distribution of their products is
actually really effective, and a definite strength of the company. New merchandise is
delivered and restocked daily, so no two days are the same at an H&M store. A
customer can shop it one day, go back the next and find new things to purchase that
her or she did not see the day before. H&M also has a great low price point. A
consumer could shop the store for $130 and come out with three tops, a pair of pants,
and several accessories, a remarkable steal. (www.time.com) A weakness of H&M is its
broad target market. Currently, the store is targeting men and women, ages 18-45.
Narrowing this market and concentrating on a smaller age group of men and women
will result in increased sales. Another opportunity for H&M to increase sales is to
revamp their advertising. It’s a little drab right now, and not creating the amount of
tension they could really use in Texas. As far as threats go, Zara is a close competitor
to H&M. It is the only store that has a faster turnaround than H&M. H&M can move a
garment “from design to hanger” (www.time.com) in as low as twenty days – a
remarkable feat. However, Zara has a turnaround of fourteen days, six days faster
than H&M!
2.3 Industry Analysis
The target market of men and women ages 16-24, like stated before, come from
extremely technologically savvy backgrounds. When they see something they want,
they buy it, whether they find it on a computer, a smart phone, or in a store. Instant
gratification is important to this market! These men and women read magazines, but
hardly ever newspapers; most do not subscribe to them, and the one who do are most
likely reading it on a technological device. They are most likely to listen to their peers,
and word-of-mouth advertising goes far with these students. When they hear their
friends talk about a brand, it peaks interest and that consumer is more likely to shop
that brand once they have heard of it.
2.4 Market Analysis
H&M is currently marketing men and women ages 18-45. This market is extremely
broad and includes several generations. While all of these ages may continue to
constantly shop H&M, a narrow target needs to be heavily marketed to ensure
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Lacey Jones
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Emily Rose
increased sales. Trying to reach so many generations can be difficult because they do
not all adhere to the same marketing medias.
2.5 Competitor Analysis
Zara, Topshop, and Forever 21 are all viable competitors that H&M faces. Zara is the
biggest competition for the company, with its turnarounds being the only ones faster
than H&M’s in the business. However, those faster turnarounds for Zara also come
with prices that are 30%-50% higher than that of H&M (www.time.com). Zara,
Topshop, Forever 21, and H&M are all fast-fashion companies, meaning that these
cheap and affordable clothing and accessories “are the result of catwalk designs moving
into stores in the fastest possible way in order to respond to the latest trends”
(www.macmillandictionary.com). One thing that sets these companies apart from H&M
is that they each have a narrower target market than H&M does. They market costconscious Generation X- and Y-ers, or fashion-conscious businessmen and women.
Whatever their market may be, it is narrow and heavily marketed in its niche. H&M
needs to find its niche.
3. Objectives
H&M will increase sales in each of its Dallas-area locations from their new target
market, high school and college students, ages 16-24, by 15% in the first four months
following the implementation of a new marketing plan described below. The success of
this will be measured by extensive marketing and research deciding where sales came
from, interviewing and asking new consumers how they found out about H&M and why
they decided to shop the store. Information will be gathered and reports will be
generated on the success of the objective.
H&M will increase its brand awareness in the selected target market by 40%. Within
six months of implementing the new marketing plan described below, a higher percent
of high school and college students will recognize H&M as a store new to the area and
accessible to them. This will be measured by surveying students at the beginning of
the plan to see how many students recognize H&M now, and conducting the same
survey at the end of six months time to see how many students recognize H&M then.
4. Strategy
4.1 Market Segmentation
H&M will now market high school students and college students in the Dallas area, ages
16-24. These consumers are cost-conscious, yet desire to dress fashionably and chic.
They are in search of a fashion-forward, inexpensive, convenient retailer to cater to
their needs. This group of men and women are extremely technologically savvy, the
majority have access to a smart phone, tablet, or computer where they can download
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Emily Rose
information at the click of a button. These students are rebellious, but listen to their
peers and respect advice they receive from them.
4.2 Positioning Strategy
H&M’s repositioning will be more of just building brand recognition. Since the opening
of four Dallas area stores in the last couple of years, most consumers are not familiar
with the brand still. Advertisements are few and far between, and since these are the
only stores in Texas, H&M could be marketed to the effect that consumers will drive far
distances to shop in Dallas specifically for H&M.
4.3 Brand Communication
Through this campaign, consumers will realize how fortunate it is to have so many H&M
locations so close together. It is important to realize that this target market can be
difficult to reach, and therefore utilizing technological mediums and peers of the target
market will be key to communicating this new position.
5. Execution
Utilize Peer Influence
By using actual high school and college students, their peers will respect and listen to
what they have to say, rather than hearing all the buzz about H&M on television or
through other sources. Each H&M Dallas area location will hire 25 high school students
and 25 college students to be brand representatives. To keep costs low, these students
will be compensated by each receiving a clothing allowance to spend in H&M,
opportunity to utilize the H&M employee discount, and will also receive a small gas
allowance. These students will go to different area high schools and universities to
pass out flyers, wear H&M clothing, and basically get the word out about the newest
H&M stores and how exciting they are. Students hired at the Town East Mall location
will visit schools South of the DFW area, including Mesquite, Rockwall, Heath, and
surrounding cities. At Willow Bend Mall H&M, students will be responsible for schools in
Plano, Frisco, and cities in that area. North Park Mall H&M students will attend all
universities in Dallas, and several high schools in the area, while the Galleria H&M
campus representatives will go north of Dallas, visiting Lewisville and Denton high
schools and colleges. This will be effective because the students are hearing all about
H&M from people like them.
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Fashion’s Night Out Participation
(www.fashionsnightout.com)
Fashion’s Night Out is a huge night of shopping all over the globe. Retailers stay open
late, offer discounts and special promotions, and prove that participating in a night of
shopping can boots a retailers image. For H&M, the four Dallas area stores will have
huge events at the four malls they are located in; Dallas Galleria, North Park Center,
Willow Bend Mall, and Town East Mall. Each store will be on the mall’s official agenda
and will offer advertisements throughout the mall showcasing their special event that
night. On the official Fashion’s Night Out, H&M will be one of the exclusive retailers
carrying Fashion’s Night Out apparel, and offer a surprise gift with purchase. H&M will
ensure consumers will return to their store by handing coupons to each consumer that
walks in the door. The coupon will be good for the month of October only, since the
event is in October.
Television Commercials
Currently, H&M’s television commercials consist of showcasing one outfit with music for
about twenty seconds, and displaying the price of each item. With this plan, H&M will
keep the commercials similar to the way they are now, but will now show three outfits
per commercial. Pick up the length to thirty seconds, show each outfit for eight
seconds each and the H&M logo and Dallas area locations for six seconds. Also, prices
will be removed from the commercials. These commercials will be aired five times a
day, three times a week on channels such as MTV, Bravo, TLC, and other channels that
this age group tunes into.
Magazine Ads
Without changing much about the specific ads, H&M will keep their magazine ads on a
simplistic approach. Featuring one look per page, add the prices in a small corner, and
add US locations in the US magazine ads. Advertisements will be shown in Seventeen
Magazine to capture the younger consumer, and Glamour, Cosmopolitan, and Elle
Magazines to capture the older audience in our target market. Since our target market
does not usually utilize newspapers, this media will not be used.
Fashion Star
(www.nbc.com/fashion-star)
Fashion Star is a new show that broadcasts on NBC on Tuesdays at 10/9pm central
time. Contestants compete for a chance to design clothing that will be sold in Macy’s,
Saks Fifth Avenue, or H&M. Once a winner is chosen on the show that week, the item
that he or she designed will be for sale the next day in one of those stores. Since H&M
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Emily Rose
is one of just three elite stores involved in this show, it should be played up! H&M will
advertise for Fashion Star in their stores to increase the shows ratings, therefore
bringing H&M more business when they have the merchandise from the show. H&M
will display the specific merchandise in their store window and have a table program set
up to display the new merchandise.
Compatibility
Each of these strategies will work together well. They are compatible because they all
involve and market to the specific target market of men and women ages 16-24.
Fashion Star is a television show geared toward this age group, Fashion’s Night Out, the
chosen magazine’s for advertisements, and peer promotions all will work together to
build brand awareness and increase consumer traffic in the stores.
6. Evaluation
At the beginning, six months mark, and one-year mark of this new marketing plan,
H&M will survey its shoppers to view results. H&M is new to the Dallas area and only
fashion forward consumers are familiar with the company. H&M is the second largest
global retailer company, and its more popular globally than in the United States.
(www.hm.com) It needs more business in Dallas and in Texas as a whole! H&M stores
are mostly located on the east coast, and the only ones in Texas are in the Dallas area!
It is very exciting to have so many stores in one area, yet this tactic is not utilized.
Consumers should be driving from all over the state to shop at H&M, but that is not
happening. By implementing this plan, H&M stores will see more business and enjoy an
increase in sales as a result.
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Kelsey Conklin
Lacey Jones
Caroline Johnston
Emily Rose
7. Reference List
Fashion Star - NBC Official Site. (n.d.). TV Network for Primetime, Daytime and
Late Night Television Shows - NBC Official Site. Retrieved April 8, 2012, from
http://www.nbc.com/fashion-star/
Fashion's Night Out. (n.d.). Fashion's Night Out. Retrieved April 8, 2012, from
http://fashionsnightout.com/
H&M. (n.d.). H&M. Retrieved April 8, 2012, from www.hm.com
MacMillan Dictionary. (n.d.). MacMillan Dictionary. Retrieved April 8, 2012, from
www.macmillandictionary.com/open-dictionary/entries/fast-fashion.htm
Laurenaudie, S. R. (n.d.). Inside The H&M Fashion Machine - TIME. Breaking News,
Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com.
Retrieved April 8, 2012, from
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,993352-2,00.html
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