Fast Fashion Brand H&M Expands The Market To Add Online Shopping Services

< p style= "text-align: center" > < img border= "0" align= "center" alt= "" src= "" /uploadimages/201402/27/20140227021833_sj.JPG "/" < > > "

< p > Swedish fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) began to enter the new main market in the fiscal year of 2014, and did not rule out the expansion of procurement in South Africa.

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< p > > a href= "http://sjfzxm.com/news/index_h.asp" > H&M < /a > announced profits and sales in the fourth quarter of this year (2014) in January 30th, and outlined the expansion plan to be carried out in its new fiscal year.

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< p > H&M will enter Australia and Philippines this year and open stores in Africa in 2015. At the end of this year, several new markets will be opened, but H&M has not disclosed where it is.

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< p > H&M plans to add online shopping services in four countries this year. French online shopping will start in spring / summer, and the other three will be planned this year.

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The purchasing strategy of < p > H&M has always been the focus of attention, but its rapid expansion plan has once again challenged industry observers that H&M is going to pfer procurement to the main markets that have helped them grow, especially in Africa.

At present, most of the H&M a href= "http://sjfzxm.com/news/index_h.asp" > garments "/a" are produced by Asian factories, especially Bangladesh.

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< p > at the company's business conference, H&M CEO Kar-Johan Persson told the presence analysts that the expansion plan was more like expanding production than moving the production line out of Asia and other countries.

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< p > "we are constantly looking for sourcing sources, just as we are trying to improve production efficiency, develop new markets and new modes of production.

Just as we develop retail business, it is no secret to open a market in South Africa. This is just the natural process of procurement. "

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< p > "but we are ambitious for future development, so we must take into account capacity and development.

Therefore, we are not moving productivity from Asia to Africa, but to increase productivity.

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< p > < strong > expansion plan < /strong > /p >

< p > last year (2013) H&M opened 356 stores, while mainland China and the United States were the most active markets for H&M, and 5 new markets including Chile, Lithuania, Serbia, Estonia and Indonesia.

H&M plans to increase about 375 stores in the current fiscal year. It is expected that mainland China and the United States will remain the main market.

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< p > executive director Persson said: "other markets also have great potential for further expansion, including Russia, Germany, Italy and Poland.

We plan to set up several flagship stores in these excellent locations.

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< p > "H&M's global expansion plan includes < a href=" http://sjfzxm.com/news/index_h.asp > online shopping < /a >.

Since H&M successfully launched online shopping in the US in 2013, it will continue to be launched in the new market this year.

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< p > H&M the fourth quarter earnings were lower than the market expected, showing "disappointing".

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< p > pre tax earnings totaled 7 billion 340 million kronor (about 1 billion 130 million US dollars), an increase of 11% over the previous year of 6 billion 640 million kronor.

However, the profit figure is less than the 7 billion 600 million kronor forecast by Reuters analysts.

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< p > by "a href=" http://sjfzxm.com/news/index_h.asp "> currency exchange rate < /a >, gross profit has dropped to 60.8% from 61.6% in the same period last year.

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Analysts at P > Bernstein described the results as disappointing and said that although the sales performance of H&M seems to be improving in recent months, it is doubtful whether H&M can sustain the strong sales growth without continuous investment pricing strategy.

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"In the long run, we are still worried about the competitive pressures from other apparel retailers and the adverse factors of cost expenditure, and expect profits to continue to fall," analysts at P Bernstein said.

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< p >, but in 2013, < a href= "http://sjfzxm.com/news/index_h.asp" > H&M < /a > the performance is brilliant. Persson is optimistic about the new fiscal year: "although we still have to face the overall economic challenges in some markets, we are optimistic about 2014. For H&M, this year is an exciting year, because we will move forward to new countries and create new opportunities.

We have great confidence in our products and believe that this year will further strengthen our market positioning.

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