Happy and mad about H&M
This is what our customers tell us, ‘Finally, you’re here!’” shared Magnus Olsson, H&M country manager for Greater China and Southeast Asia. “We have an amazing store.”
And it’s an amazing store, indeed. We were sitting quietly inside the H&M store at SM Megamall: three floors, comprising 3,000 square meters of immaculate white interiors, accented with some steel and glass details, and a lot of strategically placed lights. Such a beautiful and pristine canvas indeed for all the pieces from all its collections — women, men, kids, shoes, accessories, to name a few — hanging on the racks, sitting on shelves, waiting to be bought! It was picture-perfect, and every time I touched something on the rack, H&M’s showroom manager Nikki would gently put the hanger back in its place afterwards, lining it up perfectly with the others again. “Garment care,” she explained, as I sheepishly backed away and tried not to leave anything too disheveled. I couldn’t help it; I was so excited!
Aside from carefully monitoring the marketplace and finding the right location, Olsson revealed that it was the great demand from the Filipino consumers that made up their minds to finally come to the Philippines. “Customers wanted us to come! People were writing to us, shopping with us when they travel… They let us know in various ways. That is a natural part for us, to always listen to what the customers say. We do it to mature countries and we do it to new countries. We want to have the best customer offer, and to have that we need to listen to the customer.”
With more than 3,300 stores in 55 countries (the Philippines is lucky number 55; Australia was 54th), H&M has a lot of customers to listen to, and even get inspiration from. “As a truly global company, this means the whole world becomes an inspiration for the creative team of our buyers and designers,” said Olsson. “In Sweden, we have our own design team of more than 400 designers, pattern makers, and print designers, and they are constantly monitoring what is happening across the globe.” No wonder they’re always on-trend in all their collections. As soon as you enter the first floor, for example, you know that it’s autumn/winter in the fashion world, despite it being monsoon season in Manila. There’s a dizzying array of elements from their Studio 2014 line: flowy silhouettes, premium fabrics ranging from Merino wool to Mulberry silk, plush sweaters and outerwear, tailored suit separates, rich fabrications and embellishments, everything you need for a little warmth and sparkle for the holidays. Thankfully, some pieces are displayed together to give you styling suggestions, and cliques of Manila’s best-dressed mannequins are scattered around the store to showcase more of its modern but still slightly bohemian looks — pretty much the same looks you would see on models off-duty and editors on the streets of Fashion Week. Olsson nodded in assent. “We find the trends. We create them!”
But he’s careful not to label H&M immediately as “fast fashion.” He explained, “Some people consider fast fashion throwaway fashion. We don’t buy into that. The life span of our products is long. We want to offer products that have good quality, good price, and high quality, that last.”
He added. “But, there’s no contradiction to price and high fashion.” With some foreign brands, the prices are usually slightly more premium here than when you shop in their stores abroad, but H&M’s local pricing is quite excellent. You’ll see it immediately, especially now that you can see their prices in Philippine pesos (no more converting, hurrah!). Tops for as low as P299. Men’s shirts for P599. Ballet flats for P599. Leggings for P899. Jeans for P999. Even leather jackets for under P3,000, and boots for under P2,000.
It’s not just the prices, either. H&M has made sure to bring the same shopping experience to Manila, so there’s no reason to hoard clothes at H&M when you visit other countries (you’re still welcome to, of course). Assortment is basically the same, with about 80 perent of stocks in store being the same as around the world, while the 20 percent is adjusted for other factors like seasonality, etc. (So that means, yes, in case you hadn’t heard, the much-awaited Alexander Wang X H&M collection will be dropping next month.) They have adopted the global store policies, which means you can return clothes within 30 days of purchasing them, practically unheard of here in the Philippines. New stocks are delivered to the store every single day. (“We sell out new garments today, and we get new garments today,” emphasized Olsson. “So don’t wait to shop, because then it’s gone.”) They’re also rolling out their practice of garment collecting here, which means people can give them old clothes (from any brand, not just H&M) and they’ll make sure they are recycled and utilized.
That’s one of the things that surprise most people about H&M. The brand has a strong, practically devout commitment to sustainability, from choosing the right partners to using resources responsibly. “Our size as a global retailer comes with responsibility, but most importantly, we want to take responsibility,” said Olsson. “We want to care about the stakeholders, the customers, and the environment, and do things in a socially responsible way.”
That, in a nutshell, is H&M’s magic formula. “Fashion, quality, and great price in a sustainable way — we do it really, really well,” Olsson declared proudly. “Our business idea has been proven successful in 54 markets we’re in.”
And as the doors opened to the brand’s 55th market with a happy, smiling dance mob last Friday, it seems that the business idea is still working. “To see customers entering the store right after we’ve cut the ribbon, to see how our staff sharing the joy with the customers coming in, it always gives me goosebumps,” said Olsson, grinning. “We’re all together in sharing something exciting.”
That exciting, happy atmosphere was feeling was present during the VIP shopping party on the 15th, where fashion-loving personalities excitedly got first dibs on H&M’s offerings. But as I went back to H&M on Sunday to check out the store, it was as if the party was still going on. The quiet and pristine store was still packed with shoppers, gripping gray mesh shopping bags overflowing with clothes and hanging a couple more pieces over their arms. (No more garment care in the meantime!) Whichever floor you went to, lines to the cashier were snaking around several times. But — save for a few impatient husbands and bored little boys — people seemed happy to ooh and ahh over the adorable kids’ clothes, to buy clothes and have the option to return or exchange them later, to search the store for the nice top they saw on the mannequin, to be confused about which color to buy, to want to bring home to Bacolod, and more.
We all heard how a whopping 3,200 people lined up outside its doors before its official opening, fueled by free Seattle’s Best Coffee and the thought of exclusive discounts of up to 50 percent. Fake Twitter and Instagram accounts cropped up like mushrooms, liking H&M-related shots and comments, and even throwing out bogus comment-with-your-email-for-prizes contests. But never mind the lines, the crowd, the wait, and yes, even the fake Instagram accounts stalking your photos.
Everyone’s just happy that H&M is finally here!
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H&M will also open new branches in SM Makati, SM North EDSA, Robinsons Magnolia, and Robinsons Place Manila soon. For information, visit hm.com, follow @hmphilippines on Twitter and @hm on Instagram.
