H & M Group International Marketing and Strategy

Running head: H & M GROUP INTERNATIONAL MARKETING AND STRATEGY
H&M Group International Marketing and Strategy
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H & M GROUP INTERNATIONAL MARKETING AND STRATEGY1
Executive Summary
The international marketing process also takes into consideration analysis of the needs and
expectations of target consumers and according developing international marketing strategies for
increasing sales of company’s offerings. Considering same, the research was particularly
focussed on analysing the strategic as well as marketing practices implemented by the fashion
brand H & M within the global marketplace. The research findings revealed that H & M’s
process based marketing strategy is also deemed to be effective in attaining high sales in
comparison to its rival fashion brand Zara. In addition, the fashion brand has competitive
advantage over Zara in improving its international sales performance as it has an online delivery
process through which orders are received within a computer system based on which selected
products are shipped to consumers in a prompt manner with no shipping charges. The research
also revealed that H & M Fashion brand’s product development strategy is focussed on offering
new and innovative products to all its target consumers. This strategy of the fashion brand has
facilitated the company to attain competitive advantages over its competitor Zara where through
strategic alliances with the famous designers. As both the fashion brands H & M and Zara are
observed to have strong brand identity to attain a leading position in terms of sales margin, H &
M Company is recommended to make certain innovative adjustments in its international
marketing strategies and make its target consumers more exposed to its unique offerings. The
promotional strategy of the fashion brad must consider using selective advertisements with
maintaining a strong apparel line that is anticipated to increase its sales performance.

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Acknowledgement
It is a great pleasure for me to acknowledge the assistance and contributions of many individuals
in making this dissertation a success.
First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor, for her assistance, ideas, and feedbacks
during the process in doing this dissertation. Without her guidance and support, this dissertation
cannot be completed on time.
Lastly, I wish to express my sincere gratitude to my family for their encouragement and moral
support.

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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................................6
1.1. Company Background.......................................................................................................6
1.2. Research Background and Problem..................................................................................6
1.3. Research Rationale and Significance................................................................................8
1.4. Research Aim and Objectives.............................................................................................10
1.4. Research Questions.........................................................................................................10
1.6. Dissertation Structure.........................................................................................................11
Chapter 2: Literature Review.........................................................................................................12
2.1. Introduction.........................................................................................................................12
2.2. Concept of International Marketing....................................................................................12
2.3. Different Perspectives of International Marketing Approaches.........................................14
2.4. Principles of Marketing Strategy........................................................................................18
2.5. Basic Marketing Theories...................................................................................................20
2.6. Research Gap......................................................................................................................23
2.7. Conceptual Framework.......................................................................................................24
2.8. Summary.............................................................................................................................26
Chapter 3: Research Methodology................................................................................................27
3.1. Introduction.........................................................................................................................27

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3.2. Research Onion...................................................................................................................28
3.3. Research Design.................................................................................................................29
3.4. Research Approach.............................................................................................................29
3.5. Research Philosophy...........................................................................................................30
3.6. Data Collection Method......................................................................................................30
3.7. Data Analysis Methods.......................................................................................................31
3.8. Ethical Considerations........................................................................................................32
3.9. Summary.............................................................................................................................32
Chapter 4: Data Analysis and Findings.........................................................................................33
4.1. Data Analysis and Findings Discussion.............................................................................33
4.1.1. Marketing Principles Comparison between H & M and Zara.....................................33
4.1.2. Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning Strategy Comparison.................................35
4.1.3. Unique Selling Proposition Comparison.....................................................................37
4.1.4. Marketing Mix Strategy Comparison between H & M and Zara................................38
4.1.5. Ansoff Matrix Comparison between of H & M and Zara...........................................44
5.1.6. SWOT Analysis Comparison between H & M and Zara............................................48
5.1.7. BCG Matrix Comparison between H & M and Zara...................................................49
Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendations..............................................................................51
5.1. Conclusion..........................................................................................................................51
5.2. Recommendations...............................................................................................................53

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References......................................................................................................................................55

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Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1. Company Background
H & M is a company that is positioned as the world’s renowned fashion organisation and it
has its online shopping with around 47 markets along with 4900 physical stores all through the
world within 72 markets (Hmgroup.com. 2019). In the financial year of 2019, more than 335
new stores are planned to be opened that will be solely H & M stores. More than 95 stores are
considered to be brand stores and the group encompass eight major brands like H & M, Monki,
COS, Weekday, H & M Home, Afound and ARKET (Hansen, Jensen and Petersen 2016). The
brand has constantly indicated exceptional performance with maintaining high consumer
experience as well as its vision for maintaining a sustainable fashion industry. The company has
recorded net sales of SEK 210 Billion in the year 2018 (Hmgroup.com. 2019). The research will
also particularly be focussed on analysing the strategic as well as marketing practices
implemented by the fashion brand H & M within the global marketplace. In addition, the
research will also discuss the subject in a broad manner through associating it with relevant
marketing theories as well as practices.
1.2. Research Background and Problem
In the recent era of changing business environment, most of the organisations and
specifically the fashion brands wish to attain successful market expansion across several nations.
All the companies operate within an international business framework for capturing maximum
faction of the international market (Alon, Jaffe, Prange and Vianelli 2016). There is considerable
pace of globalisation within today’s business and the same can be articulated from the fact that
the organisations operate their business within the country’s boundaries might deal with the issue

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of domestic shortages of labour. It has been observed that the most of the businesses operating
internationally face issues in differentiating both the terms internationalisation and globalisation
and realise that both these terms lead to increased exposure to global factors (Arrigo 2018). Such
issue can result in the companies to develop ineffective international marketing strategies that
can facilitate them in suitably and competitively driving sales in the global marketplace.
Considering this research problem, it has been gathered that the fashion businesses like H & M
requires understanding the process of international marketing focusing in the nature of the
changing business world (Attas et al. 2017). Expanding business within the international market
is employed to signify westernisation in developing nations and the fashion brands like H & M
must analyse several economic conditions along with remaining aware of the related global
issues affecting its business sales and successful implementation of its international marketing
strategy.
It has been observed that the four major principles of marketing strategy are considered
important for successful implementation of international marketing strategies. The major
marketing principles include specialisation, differentiation, segmentation and concentration
(Bartsch et al. 2016). Through applying such principles it can be stated that specialisation is
evidenced to offer fashion brands with increased competitive advantages through ensuring their
specialisation on a specific aspect or product. Concentration international marketing principle
facilitates the organisation to realise the products and services offered by them and the offerings
that are not yet introduced by the organisation that can offer increased clarity to international
strategy of the business.
From analysing the business issue faced by H & M in maintaining its competitive edge
within the international marketplace, the company must take into consideration suitable