Homeware & Makeup
H&M is switching up its physical presence, meaning malls near you could soon be littered with more stores specifically dedicated to the Swedish retailer’s beauty and home departments. This shift comes at a time when, as the Wall Street Journal noted, the fashion group has been shutting hundreds of its clothes-only outlets over the last few years.
While the first stand-alone H&M Home store opened in 2018, the company has really upped its presence on the global high-street scene since, and beauty could be next on the new agenda. Indeed, the company recently opened two flagship stores in Norway where customers can expect to enjoy “beauty bars, inspirational products, and help and advice from in-store beauty advisers".
OutSHEIN
The physical store pivot is interesting in the context of H&M’s recent history. The group, which is also behind brands like COS, & Other Stories, and Monki, has seen sales lag behind competitors in recent quarters, as younger consumers increasingly look to online brands to supply their fast fashion fixes. The retailer might be hoping that, by diversifying its physical store offerings and possibly moving more of the clothes-focused business online, it can recapture its youthful demographic.
Chinese fast fashion retailer SHEIN, for example, has proved stiff competition in the last few years, with the clothes maker’s market more than double that of H&M. It’s certainly captured online attention — notably among Gen Z and TikTokers — with YouTube search data showing SHEIN far ahead of H&M as people trawl the site to see try-on videos and hauls from the ultra-cheap outlet.
