Analysis of H&M Marketing Case Study

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Company Background
The Online vs. In-Store Experience
Online Shopping
Making Connections
Conclusion
References

Introduction

Target marketing for online vs. store-based businesses can differ due to clients’ distinct demographic characteristics and needs. The recent COVID-19 pandemic, followed by lockdowns, led to changes in the perception of marketing strategies. It is possible to hypothesize that nowadays, many companies try to elaborate their physical and online representation equally due to the increasing number of people who use online marketplaces.

Company Background

H&M is an international retail company that has both physical and online stores. H&M was established in Sweden in 1947, and nowadays, it is represented in 75 countries with 4,702 physical stores and 107,375 representations on online platforms. The company sells clothes for women, men, children, and teenagers and has a separate category H&M Home with the production for interior design (H&M, 2022). Therefore, the company’s varied marketing strategy allows it to promote different types of apparel, accessories, and goods for home in its stores.

The marketing strategies used by one of the largest world retailers specializing in mass markets and fast fashion are similar to its online and offline stores. It is possible to explain the choice of the standard marketing strategy for promoting the production H&M sells with the same target audience the brand has online and offline. The company launches collaborations with well-known designers and famous media persons to increase the attractiveness of its products (H&M, 2022). Promoting the clothes H&M sells using social media influencers is one of the clearest marketing strategies the company operates online and offline, posting the images of well-known individuals in the commercials (H&M, 2022). It shows that the emphasis of H&M is on mass production and selling the goods that most people need.

The Online vs. In-Store Experience

Consumer behavior changed significantly during the last decades, and the company should correspond to the market’s new requirements. Focus on clients’ buying experience, mindfulness, cross-cultural consumption, and giving possibilities to consumers with low income are among the new goals that marketing pursues (Sheth & Kellstadt, 2021). In other words, consumer behavior has become more liberal, and the marketing strategies applied by companies correspond to this trend. Traditional marketing changes with time, and becomes more democratic and inclusive (Sheth & Kellstadt, 2021). Customers’ in-store experience in H&M corresponds to these aims, and it tries to provide its audience with accessible, sustainable, and diverse production.

The company sells products for people of different sizes, which allows them to find the necessary clothes in the stores. It is evident both in the online and offline stores of the brand. The apparel availability for plus-size individuals is the critical component that will enable H&M to attract clients with various body shapes. Moreover, there is an emphasis on diversity in the images of the models that show the newest collections (H&M, 2022). It creates an attractive atmosphere in the brand stores because everyone understands that H&M. welcomes them. In general, it makes the democratic character of the brand, which is a critical issue in supporting its popularity among the target audience.

The communication with consumers in the stores of H&M corresponds to the principles of equality. People understand that H&M is an accessible store where they can find clothes and things for their home without problems, and no one will evaluate their social and economic class (H&M, 2022). It makes H&M different from select stores where luxurious products are sold. It is possible to state that this liberal approach to communication is an essential component of the brand’s marketing strategy, and H&M promotes it in offline stores and on online platforms.

Online Shopping

Communication with clients is the essential component of the marketing strategy H&M uses. Social media accounts make it easier to promote new apparel collections and interact in the comments section. Moreover, social media propose ways of promoting the brand, such as using hashtags to facilitate the search of photos of the apparel and goods and marking the brand of clothes on the images of models (H&M, 2022). H&M widely applies these two methods in their marketing strategies because they allow the company to show how their apparel looks on different people.

The emphasis on diversity is essential in the campaigns of H&M. It is possible to find models from various age groups, races, and genders. For instance, the apparel collections for plus-size models are essential in popularizing the brand among its target audience (H&M, 2022). Moreover, the diversity among the models that show the clothes reflects the diversity of individuals who buy the production of H&M. It allows the company to promote its online stores as the place where every person can find something that corresponds to their needs.

H&M tries to show its target audience that the company has a proactive position on socially essential questions. The support of the environment, including following the sustainability trend, is among these critical issues. The company’s representatives focus on this relevant topic in making posts on the official social media accounts. It is also possible to find information about every product sold by H&M that features data on its eco-friendly character (H&M, 2022). It allows the company to correspond to the significant trends of contemporary society, develop them, and even create new ones that become popular among its target audience.

Another critical detail in the online strategy of H&M is giving people the opportunity to generate the content themselves. As Li et al. (2020) state, the content created by customers, including personal photos on social media accounts and images of the products on online marketplaces, makes the brand more popular. H&M supports customers who post pictures of the apparel, accessories, and items for an interior design they bought in the brand’s stores (H&M, 2022). It makes the communication between the target audience and the brand closer.

Making Connections

H&M has a similar marketing strategy for online and offline stores, which allows the company to achieve good results. Online shopping has become more popular recently due to the pandemic and lockdowns, showing marketers the necessity of elaborating effective promotion on online marketplaces and social media accounts. Therefore, H&M promotes such ideas as a proactive social position, including sustainability, equality, and diversity, that constitute the most vital components of the contemporary cultural discourse (H&M, 2022). Communication with the target audience is more developed on online platforms, including the brand’s social media accounts which allow the company’s representatives to interact with clients directly. At the same time, offline stores also promote equality and diversity as the main aspects of their interaction with customers, promoting it with the atmosphere in the stores and the choice of the models for the advertising campaigns.

Conclusion

H&M promotes its stores using traditional marketing, including advertising campaigns, publication of lookbooks in media, and social media promotion. It is possible to state that these two strategies are interconnected because the use of popular models and renowned people who influence the target audience is typical of both the traditional and the new media. As a result, ordinary customers are welcome to post photos of themselves in H&M apparel just as social media influencers, designers, and models on the pictures featuring new clothes from H&M collections.

References

H&M. (2022). About us. Web.

Li, S. G., Zhang, Y. Q., Yu, Z. X., Liu, F. (2020). Economical user‐generated content (UGC) marketing for online stores based on a fine‐grained joint model of the consumer purchase decision process. Electronic Commerce Research 21, 1083-1112. Web.

Sheth, J & Kellstadt, C. H. (2021). New areas of research in marketing strategy, consumer behavior, and marketing analytics: the future is bright. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice 29(1), 3-12. Web.

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