Marketing Digital Communication Plan: H&M Brand 12-Month Strategy

This report presents a comprehensive digital communication strategic plan for the H&M brand, designed to enhance its performance over the next 12 months. The plan utilizes the SOSTAC framework for both analysis and strategic development. The report begins with a situational analysis of the H&M brand, examining its collaborators, customers, market dynamics, challenges, and potential competitors, including a SWOT analysis. Following the situational analysis, the report outlines specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) objectives for the communication plan, along with the strategic direction, including target market segmentation and positioning. The plan details the digital tools and tactics to be employed, such as online retail platforms, social media, mobile app development, and behavioral marketing. The implementation strategy is provided, along with key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics to evaluate the plan's effectiveness. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of the marketing plan in the context of market competition.

Running head: Marketing
DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS AND ANALYTICS
By (Student's Name)
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Executive summary
Digital marketing communication remains an important aspect of contemporary business
marketing. The paper focuses on the development of digital communication plan that will ensure
business performance in the next 12 months. The plan uses the SOSTAC planning framework for
both analysis and planning. The paper provides the situational analysis of the H&M brand that
enables the development of digital communication strategic plan. The paper also provides
objectives of the communication plan giving various goals that will be achieved through the
plan. The implementation and evaluation of the digital communication plan is another area that
the paper provides in detail. The paper also gives the evaluation metrics and KPIs that will be
used to determine the performance of the plan. The paper concludes by identification of the
importance of the marketing plan to business and the competition in the market.

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Table of Contents
Introduction...............................................................................................................................................4
1. Situation analysis................................................................................................................................4
1.1 Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M) brand..................................................................................................4
1.2 Collaborators.....................................................................................................................................4
1.3 Customers..........................................................................................................................................5
1.4 Market the company operates..........................................................................................................5
1.5 Challenges in the market...................................................................................................................6
1.6 Potential competitors........................................................................................................................7
1.7 SWOT ANALYSIS OF H&M Brand........................................................................................................9
2. Smart objectives...............................................................................................................................10
3. Strategic communications direction...............................................................................................10
3.1 Segmentation and identification of target.......................................................................................10
Positioning.............................................................................................................................................11
4. Digital tools and tactics...................................................................................................................11
5. Implementation................................................................................................................................13
6. Metrics/KPIs....................................................................................................................................14
Conclusion................................................................................................................................................15
Reference..................................................................................................................................................15
Appendix I: Time schedule.....................................................................................................................18

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Introduction
Digital communication strategic plan forms an important aspect of business that enables
the business to perform in the current market. Conducting situational analysis enables
understanding of both market and competitors of an organization. The situational analysis also
gives areas that should form part of the marketing strategy for the business in the course of
developing marketing strategies. Besides, the development of digital marketing strategies is key
to the current competition. The paper, therefore, provides a marketing strategic communication
plan for the H&M brand that will run for the next 12 months.
1.Situation analysis
1.1 Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M) brand
Hennes & Mauritz commonly known as H&M brand is Swedish fashion and apparel
company that has expanded its operations to many different countries. The company has stores in
various countries couple with online retail services. The company sells fast-fashion clothing for
men, women, teenagers and children with more than 5000 stores. The company has expanded its
operations to more than 74 countries as of 2019. The company is currently ranked second
globally after Zara in the fashion and apparel industry. The online retailing operation is currently
available within 33 countries spread globally (Zeithaml, Bitner & Gremler 2013).
1.2 Collaborators
The company has collaborated with some companies over the past with the majority of
these businesses being suppliers. In 2006, the company collaborated with Dutch designers Viktor
& Rolf that enable the company to launch a collection. Italian designer Roberto Cavalli

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collaborated with the company to launch a collection in Italy and another collection in china by
Kylie Minogue. The company has also collaborated with other companies such as Balmain
designer Olivier Rousteing, Imagine Fashion, Versace and designer Matthew Williamson.
1.3 Customers
The company has been selling to customers that are spread globally and within various
countries through some collections. The company has both physical customers and online
customers. These customer based to enable the company to expand its operations across the
borders of countries. The customer line includes men, women and children that buy clothes and
food wears within the store (Tedlow & Jones 2014).
1.4 Market the company operates
The apparel and footwear market in the United Kingdom (UK) has been growing over the
past five years with the market expected to continue growing. The peak of the growth in market
size and volume is expected to be realized in 2020. The market growth is shifting in favour of
female wear as the female purchased double the male purchase of the past five years. The trend
is also expected to continue as more orders are received from female customers. There are more
than 11500 apparent stores in the UK and the number is expected to grow with increasing
demand for clothes (Slack & Brandon-Jones 2019).

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Figure 1: Expenditure on clothes by Volume
1.5 Challenges in the market
The UK’s fashion and apparel industry or market has been characterized by some
challenges that are most likely to affects future operations. Firstly, the increasing competitors
from both local and international competitors are posing a threat to both local and international
companies. This has also increased price fluctuation making the market trend unpredictable.
Secondly, shifting demand for clothes is also another challenge as many customer majorly
female gender are increasing demand for fashion product posing threat to companies that have
initially specialized in men wear. Moreover, companies that had initially produced more men
wear has seen low sales as women wear increases in demand and the trend is most likely to
change in future (Shimizu 2014).

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1.6 Potential competitors
H&M has a variety of competitors that are spread across the UK and internationally and some of
these are Zara, Uniqlo, Gap, Asos
Zara is a Spanish apparel and fashion company that specialized in various fashion and
design products. The strength of Zara is based on its uniquely designed products that enable the
company to launch a new design every year. Zara has strong value and market share globally
making the company be one of the top competitors of H&M brand (Shimizu 2016).
Uniqlo is a Japanese fashion brand that operates many different countries though
established in 1949. The company has a growth strategy that has seen the company grow faster
over the past few years. The company is also known for its unique fashion and design than any
other company. The growth and expansion are one of the reasons the company is considered a
competitor of the H&M brand thus posing threat to the company. Also, the company normally
considers the quality of products and new fashion causing many customers to consider its clothes
than other competitors.
The Gap is another American company manufacturing and producing clothes and
personal care products for both men and women. The company sells its products through
franchise stores and online retails. The company is known for a variety of products diversified
with strong dealership reaching customers globally. The products are considered long-lasting
making it one of the quality producer companies in the apparel industry (Zeithaml, Bitner &
Gremler 2013).

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Asos is another retailer dealing in over 850 brands which are sold through local mobile
channel and online wed. The company specialized in men and women wear spiced with
footwear. The company has been investing in a mobile app that is used to shop and this has also
increased its presence. The company has a strong online presence that forms its main domain
making the company online competitor of H&M brand (Hester 2019).
Figure 2: UK Fashion competitors

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1.7 SWOT ANALYSIS OF H&M Brand
Strength
1. The company has a wide variety of
products
2. The company has a unique identity for
all brands making it easy to identify
each product under the umbrella for
H&M
3. The company has diversified global
presence
4. The company has been realizing strong
financial performance
Weaknesses
1. The company over-rely on third party
supply that may lead to challenges
2. The company has most of its products
depending on the clothes trend in the
market
3. The clothes sold within the company
has affordable price affecting the
quality of product
Opportunity
1. The company opportunity offered
through continuous growth and
expansion
2. Online shopping platform offered
through e-commerce has an opportunity
for reaching masses
3. There are has been improving living
standards that enable the purchase of
clothes
Threats
1. Changing and evolving fashion trend
poses a threat to the company
2. Increasing risk of cyber insecurity is a
threat to online retail
3. There is intense competition from some
stores in the UK and internationally
4. Labour cost in developed countries is
also posing a risk of increasing
operation cost

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4. The emerging markets pose an
opportunity for the company to expand
its operations.
2. Smart objectives
1. To increase customer engagement in the next 12 months through mobile app
2. To increase brand online awareness for the next 12 months through digital marketing
tools
3. To increase the market share and brand position within 12 months both in UK and
internationally
4. To increase the volume of sale over the next 12 months thereby increasing the
profitability of the company
3. Strategic communications direction
From the situational analysis, competitors are involved in both online business and in-
house business. The market shows promising growth in women wear with the majority of
companies focusing on online marketing. Another area that is the strength of these companies is
the design and uniqueness of their products that enable them to sell to consumers within the
country and outside. The digital communication strategy should, therefore, focus on digital
marketing tools with a key focus on women as the target market segmentation (Dibb, Simkin,
Pride & Ferrell 2013).
3.1 Segmentation and identification of target

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The market segmentation can be described through geographical, demographic and
psychographic. Firstly, the demographic segmentation this plan is targeting is the female market
audience both locally and internationally. The UK market has witnessed an increasing demand
for female wear with the demand for doubling male fashion wear in the past seven years. The
market is also growing in favour of women wear and this allows reaching out to these market.
Many companies currently in the market is targeting both man and women which as has changed
since women demanding fashion and design products increasing. The value of women wear has
increased to 4.3 billion as compared to men wear that is currently 931 million. Secondly, the plan
is also targeting geographical segmentation that is including UK based customers, internationally
and online customers. Thirdly, the psychographic segmentation will be based on those customers
that demand affordable price products (Kates 2013).
Positioning
The plan targets to position the company as the best clothes, fashion and designer
company in UK and throughout Europe. The company being number two globally the plan seek
to position the company has the best in the market and with over 70% market share above other
competitors shown in figure 2 above (Fitzsimmons & Bordoloi 2014).
4. Digital tools and tactics
There are some digital marketing tools that the company will use to market its products
thus reaching a larger market share within the country and internationally. Firstly, increasing the
company’s online presence and the proposition is key for achieving the set objectives. The
company has realized that many competitors are currently involved in online marketing and due
to increasing growth of online market increasing online presence is an important tactic. The

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company will increase online marketing through its online retail platform and social media
platforms. The company will increase marketing through online channels aiming at expanding
online business that is also expanding in volume (Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick 2012).
Secondly, development and intensifying use of the mobile app is another digital tool that
is promising due to some reasons. The mobile app has been used by competitor such as ASOS to
increase its mobile business. This has also shown an increasing customer engaged due to the
closeness of the mobile apps to users. Using the mobile app also enable target marketing that will
only target customer preference. This implies that the mobile app will use customer behavioural
purchase to identify what the customer prefers most (Danova 2014).
Thirdly, behavioural marketing is another digital tool that will be used to market products
to customers across various online platforms. The technology uses browsing behaviour of the
customer to market products specifically to the customer based on their brow history. This will
also allow the company to identify those products that the customer prefers most and using those
products to market to the customer. This digital tool is also important for informing the company
on those products that most customers prefer and this will form the basis for stacking stores
(Chen, Ming & Mingzhi 2015).
Fourthly, business intelligence and data mining technologies is another digital marketing
tool that will also be used by the company to help realized its marketing objectives. Business
intelligence that involves using data for analysis of those products or services that customer
prefers will be used to direct marketing to customers. Data mining technique that analyses data
on consumers preference, browsing and purchases will be used to understand the customers'
purchase behaviour. Moreover, the customer browsing behaviour also enables identification of
customer preference in terms of competitors that enable understanding of company selling