Reporter | Chen Qirui
Edit | Lou Shuqin
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H&M's China market strategy is shifting.
Recently, H&M opened China's first menswear concept store in Joy City, Xidan, Beijing. The store is located on the second floor of the mall, not far from the women's clothing store on the same floor, but it is in a position that is more easily accessible to consumers on the moving line. In terms of decoration and display, H&M adopts a tough industrial style, which is different from the simple and straightforward space design in the previous store.
Affected by the previous Xinjiang cotton incident, although it is the first men's wear concept store in China, H&M still chooses to open a low-key business. There were no celebrities invited to the unveiling event, and no large number of influencers came to punch the clock, and if you are not familiar with the mall or do not specifically ask the clerk, it is difficult to realize that this is a newly opened store.
However, in order to attract customers, H&M still offers different amounts of consumer gifts. When the interface is fashionable, there are not many clerks in the store, and most of them are busy sorting out the clothes.
The interface fashion asked how the store differed from other stores that had previously collected men's and women's clothing, and a clerk said that the store could offer more diversified men's clothing options, and consumers could match it through digital interactive devices.
Interface Fashion asked H&M for more information about the men's wear concept store, and got a response, saying that it was inconvenient to reply.
Prior to the opening of the Xidan menswear concept store, H&M Group successively introduced its mid-range Arket and & Other Stories to China, opening its first stores in Beijing and Shanghai respectively.
Photographed by Chen Qirui
Improving positioning is one of the directions of H&M Group's recent strategic adjustment. In addition to Arket and & Other Stories, another mid-range brand, COS, is also adding to the Chinese market. Unlike H&M, which entered earlier, COS did not open stores on a large scale, but from 2021 onwards, it began to use social e-commerce forms such as live broadcasting to increase its influence and sales.
H&M split the men's clothing category separately to open a store, which has the consideration of the men's wear market. For a long time, the men's wear market has maintained steady growth, but its share in the apparel market is much lower than that of women's wear.
According to Data from Euromonitor Consulting, the Chinese men's wear market may increase by 13.1% in 2021 and is expected to exceed 100 billion yuan in 2023. However, among the 321 cities in the country, men's clothing accounts for only 10.18% of the overall retail industry, and the proportion of first-tier cities is lower than that of non-first-tier cities.
Compared with women, male consumers pay more attention to practicality and shop less frequently. A person in the clothing resale industry told Interface Fashion that it is more difficult to recycle well-colored men's clothing than women's clothing. "Many men will wear clothes with obvious flaws before selling them to second-hand platforms."
Image credit: Business of Fashion
However, the rise of street trends in recent years has made many men re-examine clothing consumption, and has also promoted the growth of the men's wear market. Under this trend, local brands such as BEASTER and Boise, which provide fashion clothing for men, have received multiple rounds of financing in recent years.
At a time when the Chinese market is at a low ebb, splitting up different businesses may help H&M find new growth points, after all, putting all the eggs in one basket will only bring greater risks. Long before H&M opened a menswear concept store, COS had already opened a separate menswear store in Taikoo Li, Sanlitun.
However, it is worth noting that in addition to men's clothing stores, H&M Group is now also adjusting the overall store layout. According to the earnings report, H&M has reduced its total number of stores by 162 as of August 31 this year, and its affordable fast fashion brand Monki has announced that it will withdraw from the Hong Kong market.