H&M expands global footprint, unveils online store in India to boost growth

Swedish fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) on Thursday announced the launch of its online store in India with an aim to further accelerate its growth in the country.

The company said it is bringing a full product range to customers in India with H&M's Shop Online offering a wider range of collections with exclusive 'online-only' pieces available all year-round.

The products range will include ladies, men's, teens, kids, plus-size, maternity wear and a complete collection of lingerie and accessories.

"India will be the 45th global market where H&M has started online stores," H&M India Country Manager Janne Einola told PTI.

He said the move will help H&M strengthen its fashion offer in metro cities and extend access to tier 2 and 3 cities across India, where it doesn't have stores at present.

H&M has 29 stores in 12 cities in India currently.

Einola said, with an aim to bring synergies between its offline and online stores, H&M has also introduced the scan-and-buy feature that allows customers to buy products online if appropriate size is not available in physical stores by scanning barcodes.
When asked about sales expectations from the online stores, he said, "Globally for H&M, the share of online sales to the overall sales is 12.5 per cent. Let's hope that in India it is even bigger and is the strongest." Einola said H&M is going full on its own for the online stores and isn't getting into any e-commerce marketplace although deliveries would be through a partnership with third parties.

"We'll cover most of the pin codes in India except for a few," he said.