Marketing Plan for H&M: Strategies, Tactics, and Competitive Analysis

This report presents a detailed marketing plan for H&M, a prominent global clothing brand. It begins with a situational analysis, examining the current market environment, including consumer trends, sustainability concerns, and competitive pressures. The analysis incorporates SWOT and CDSTEP frameworks to evaluate strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, as well as macro-environmental factors. The marketing goal focuses on increasing sales volume through product development. The strategy targets diverse market segments based on age, gender, and interests, emphasizing fashion trends and affordability. Key elements include a value proposition centered on quality, diverse product offerings, and a focus on customer needs. Marketing tactics cover product development, competitive pricing strategies, multi-channel distribution, and promotional campaigns to reach target consumers effectively. The plan aims to address current challenges and ensure the brand's continued growth and market competitiveness. This report provides a comprehensive overview of marketing strategies and tactics for H&M, offering valuable insights into brand growth and market positioning.

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Running head: MARKETING PLAN
Marketing Plan
Name
Institution
Author’s Note

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MARKETING PLAN
MARKETING PLAN FOR H&M
Situational Analysis
H&M is one of the most reputable clothing brands that have been able to gain popularity
across various boundaries both at the regional, national and the international level. Moreover, it
is a Swedish multinational clothing brand that has gained popularity across large groups of
targeted customers as a result of coming up with quite a number of unique designs of various
types of fast fashion clothing that are mainly meant for both the men, women together with
children of different ages (Erevelles, Fukawa & Swayne, 2016). As far as the market
environment is concerned, the H&M Company is current facing quite a number of problems that
have even ended up making it very difficult to attain various goals within the stipulated time
frame. It is suggested that a certain group of consumers known to be situated in various locations
are capable of throwing out an approximation of 70kg of textiles on a yearly basis. This is a
situation that has caused quite a number of threats to the entire organization due to the losses that
they have been able to encounter within the market platform. Due to this, various consumers are
currently becoming concerned with all the sustainable nature that is known to be attached to fast
fashion consumption that is adequately spurred on by various shows like war on waste (Hofacker
et al., 2016). As a result of what is being experienced by the organization within the entire
market platform, there is the need to adequately come on board and be able to defend its image
across a wide range of personalities most so the ones who have emerged as some of the potential
customers. This can be best carried out through the implementation of various parameters like
the SWOT analysis together with the CDSTEP analysis that are capable of providing a clear

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picture of the entire marketing environment. Through the implementation of SWOT analysis, the
entire company will be able to come up with a perfect evaluation of its strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities together with some of the threats that are likely to exist within the market platform.
This is therefore likely to come up with a perfect condition of clearly evaluating some of the
areas where loopholes might exist thus coming up with some of the most appropriate and reliable
recommendations (see appendix 1). On the other hand, CDSTEP as a parameter is known to have
the capability of playing a crucial role as far as the marketing environment for H&M is
concerned (Xu, Frankwick & Ramirez, 2016). It has the capability of providing a perfect
opportunity to the top management officials for them to be able to adequately evaluate various
aspects of macro environmental factors that strongly relies on culture, demographics, social
factors, technology, and economic factors together with the political and legal factors. They tend
to give a clear picture of what is taking place within the market platform (see appendix 2). There
is the need to adequately solve the current situation of H&M for it to be competitive within the
market platform and be able to offer a stiff competition to several other companies that tend to
offer the same services to various groups of customers.
Marketing Goal
One of the best chosen methods of growth that is attached to the brand is product
development. Moreover, as far as the marketing goals are concerned, the entire company aims
towards increasing its sales volume by around 80% in the next two years.
Marketing strategy
The organization aims towards coming up with one of the most reasonable marketing
strategies that is capable of making sure that all the goals and objectives are attained within the

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stipulated time frame. Moreover, the marketing strategies to be implemented should be able to
conform to all the rules and regulations on the entire organizations thereby ensuring that various
operations are carried out in a smooth and reliable manner without encountering any barrier
related situations during operations. As far as the target consumers are concerned, the whole
company aims towards capturing a wide range of market segments that are known to be existing
within the market platform (Lamberton & Stephen, 2016). The targeting of the market segments
will be carried out through an adequate implementation of quite a number of essential procedures
that will be able to work hand in hand with all the goals and objectives of the entire company.
The three major market segments mainly include; age, gender together with interests obtained
from various personalities. Gender will be the major segment that H&M will be targeting thus
coming up with a wide range of products that are capable of capturing both the men, women
together with children of different ages. On the other hand, it is a market segment that will be
able to come up with a perfect evaluation of what is required by all the clients in relation to some
of the products being presented to them through the market platform.
Profile of the target segment
The target segment majorly consists of a group of personalities who are majorly
interested in keeping up with the current fashion trends thus giving them a perfect opportunity to
easily make any purchase of various outfits that are capable of keeping up with the latest trends.
On the other hand, the target segment consists of both the male and female genders that are
known to be located in various locations within the regional, national and even the international
boundaries (Hudson, Huang, Roth & Madden, 2016). At the same time, the target segment also
consists of children who are known to be falling in between various age groups. Additionally, the

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company aims towards covering all types of consumers irrespective of their levels of income
through the provision of various types of products that consists of different price range.
Value proposition
Quite a number of the target consumers will be interested in buying the product due to its
quality and the ability to offer adequate services within a wide time frame. On the other hand, the
customers will be interested in buying the product that best fits their needs as far as its
characteristics are concerned. The characteristics of the product are some of the major things that
are capable of attracting the attention of the targeted group of customers. Products that are
diverse in terms of the services that they provide to all the clients tend to provide one of the best
opportunities to various customers thus making them to develop the urge of making a purchase.
Due to this, the organization aims towards coming up with quality long lasting products within
the market platform that will be able to best fit the needs of all the customers irrespective of
where they are coming from thus eliminating various conditions that might be related to
discrimination.
Marketing Tactics
Quite a number of marketing tactics are essential for the entire organization for it to
ensure that a good number of its future goals and objectives are appropriately addressed without
any delays being encountered. On the other hand, marketing tactics normally constitutes of quite
a number of quite a number of appropriate and reliable marketing mix elements that have the
potential of suiting all the targeted customers, the resources of the company together with
various forms of competition that are known to be taking place within the market platform.

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Product
One of the first marketing tactics that H&M Company aims towards covering is the
company product. It aims towards coming up with some of the best products that are of high
quality and capable of keeping up with the current fashion trends that are required by most
consumers who tend to be located in various locations. On the other hand, the branding of the
product will be appropriately carried out with an intention of capturing the attention of all the
targeted groups of consumers thus developing the potential of outdoing several other product
brands that might be existing within the market platform.
Price
Additionally, the organization aims towards implementing a marketing tactic on the basis
of price. As far as the 5c’s are concerned, the entire company is working hard to be in a position
of all the needs of the customers by providing them with products of different prices. The next
thing is to focus on customers and how they will be subjected to a vast range of products that are
of different prices thus given them one of the best opportunities to come up with the right choice
that they feel is best for them (Katsikeas, Morgan, Leonidou & Hult, 2016). Moreover, the
organization will also be able to adequately determine some of the competitors that are trying to
offer competition on the basis of price within the market platform. As far as the issue dealing
with collaborators is concerned, the entire management team will be able to evaluate the most
suitable suppliers who will not be able to alter with the prices of various products attached to the
organization. Also, there will be the need to carry out a perfect context evaluation to determine if
any limitations are likely to emerge on the basis of various factors.

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H&M Company will be able to implement cost based pricing that will enable the entire
organization to adequately determine the selling price of most of its products that are being
released into the market. There appears to be several other pricing models that appear to be
suitable for the performance of the entire organization (Wedel & Kannan, 2016). The first one is
performance based pricing model that will ensure that the entire H&M Company will be capable
of fully basing its entire fee on the performance of various operations that are being carried out.
Through this, the senior management personnel of the company will be able to affect one of the
most measurable outcomes for all the clients with the major one being increased efficiency. At
the same time, there is the equity pricing model that will develop the potential of giving the
entire organization an opportunity to be offered a stake in exchange of the work that is it capable
of doing. Various incentives like promotions will always be offered to all the customers
irrespective of where they are situated thus this will bring on board some condition of motivation
among them.
Distribution
Distribution as a marketing tactic will be able to capture a wide range of channels that
will be used to deliver a variety of products to customers known to be located in different places.
Moreover, the company will ensure that all the distribution channels that will be implanted will
be capable of adequately performing without bringing on board any complications that might
lead to the delay of the products (Voorhees, Brady, Calantone & Ramirez, 2016). One of the
major marketing channels for the company’s products is the ‘manufacturer, to wholesaler to
customer’ marketing channel. It is a marketing channel that mainly presents the consumers with
one of the best opportunities to purchase various products directly from the whole seller.
Additionally, there is ‘the manufacturer directly to consumer’ marketing channel where H&M

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company as the manufacturer will be able to produce various types of goods and then sells them
directly to all the consumers within the market platform without the presence of any
intermediary. At the same time, there will be an alternate distribution channel that will also be
implemented during various times. The distribution channel will mainly be ‘the manufacturer to
retailer to consumer’ where various purchases will be made by the retailer from the
manufacturer, thereafter; the retailer will be able to sell the products to various consumers.
Promotions
Various promotion techniques will be adequately implemented to ensure that a good number of
marketing goals are attain within the stipulated time frame thus providing one of the best
opportunities for the whole organization to scale up to greater heights where it can be able to
offer stiff competition to several other companies within the market boundaries. A total of AUD
50,000 will be spending on various parameters dealing with promotions to ensure that success is
attained.
Activity Amount Used
Advertising 20,000$ AUD
Online marketing 10,000$ AUD
Creation of awareness by using various
personalities
10,000$ AUD
Hiring of various promotion parameters 10,000$ AUD
One of the major international marketing communication tools that will be used is public
relations. This is normally described to be the management function that is capable of
identifying, establishing and maintaining quite a number of positive relationships that exists
between the organization and the entire public upon which all the success and failures depends

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on. On the other hand, another tool that will be used is the sales promotion tool that will be able
to provide various forms of direct inducements that are capable of offering extra incentives to
enhance the movement of the product right from the company to the consumers themselves.
Technical part
The entire organization aims towards covering a wide range of markets across various markets in
order to satisfy the needs of all the consumers without them going through various difficulties in
search of the products and services attached to the organization. Appropriate awareness will also
be created across various employees for them to be aware of some of the best operation
techniques that they are required to carry out in order to make sure that the whole organization is
capable of attaining what is required as far as quality services are concerned.
Regional Market National Market International Market
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%

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As far as the objectives of the company are concerned, it aims to capture a total of 80% of the
regional market in the next five years thus making it much easier to adequately address various
needs of the customers of nearly all the consumers who are found at the regional market.
Additionally, it is also putting much focus on the national market where it aims towards targeting
a total of 85% of all the consumers found within that platform. This will be done through the
provision of a wide range of products and services that are of high quality and are capable of
adequately addressing the needs of all the targeted groups of consumers without any barriers
being encountered at all during various operations. On the other hand, H&M Company also aims
towards capturing a better part of the international market with an approximation of 90% of all
the consumers. With this, nearly all their operations will be very efficient and reliable at this
level thereby making it easier for all the consumers to have a clear understanding of what is
taking place within the boundaries of operations that are attached to the entire company. The
above mentioned target market platform acts as a motivational factor for the whole organization
thereby providing one of the most reasonable directions that should be followed towards the path
of success be it in the current or future situations. At the same time, the entire top management
team will be able to work together with all the employees and the targeted groups of consumers
thus bringing on board an adequate understanding on how various operations are handled. In
order to attain the above targeted market goals, the whole company will make sure that quite a
number of ethical considerations are appropriately implemented with an intention of putting
thing in order thus avoiding any chances of confusion that are likely to emerge.

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References
Erevelles, S., Fukawa, N., & Swayne, L. (2016). Big Data consumer analytics and the
transformation of marketing. Journal of Business Research, 69(2), 897-904.
Hofacker, C. F., De Ruyter, K., Lurie, N. H., Manchanda, P., & Donaldson, J. (2016).
Gamification and mobile marketing effectiveness. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 34,
25-36.
Hudson, S., Huang, L., Roth, M. S., & Madden, T. J. (2016). The influence of social media
interactions on consumer–brand relationships: A three-country study of brand perceptions
and marketing behaviors. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 33(1), 27-41.
Katsikeas, C. S., Morgan, N. A., Leonidou, L. C., & Hult, G. T. M. (2016). Assessing
performance outcomes in marketing. Journal of Marketing, 80(2), 1-20.
Lamberton, C., & Stephen, A. T. (2016). A thematic exploration of digital, social media, and
mobile marketing: Research evolution from 2000 to 2015 and an agenda for future
inquiry. Journal of Marketing, 80(6), 146-172.
Voorhees, C. M., Brady, M. K., Calantone, R., & Ramirez, E. (2016). Discriminant validity
testing in marketing: an analysis, causes for concern, and proposed remedies. Journal of
the Academy of Marketing Science, 44(1), 119-134.

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Wedel, M., & Kannan, P. K. (2016). Marketing analytics for data-rich environments. Journal of
Marketing, 80(6), 97-121.
Xu, Z., Frankwick, G. L., & Ramirez, E. (2016). Effects of big data analytics and traditional
marketing analytics on new product success: A knowledge fusion perspective. Journal of
Business Research, 69(5), 1562-1566.

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Appendices
Appendix 1: SWOT ANALYSIS
This is one of the most essential techniques that will be useful for the organization in terms of
understanding its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities together with threats within the marketing
environment.
Strengths
As far as the strengths of the organization is concerned, it is known to have a well-trained group
of personnel that who are capable of adequately implementing some of the correct operations
that should be done in order to enable the entire organization to attain success (Katsikeas,
Morgan, Leonidou & Hult, 2016)..
Weaknesses
On the other hand, there are weaknesses; one of the major weaknesses associated with the
organization is the issue of poorly paid employees. All the employees within the company are
known to be performing quite a number of tasks but what they receive in return is very minimal
to sustain their living standards (Wedel & Kannan, 2016)..

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Opportunities
Expansion to new market platforms have emerged as some of the major opportunities that is
attached to H&M company. The entire organization is capable of expanding to new regions
where it can be able to offer one of the best and reliable services to various customers
irrespective of their distance of separation.
Threats
Competition received from other organizations has emerged to be one of the major threats facing
the organization. Quite a number of competitors within the market platform are capable of
providing a stiff competition to H&M thus making it much difficult to carry out certain
operations.
Appendix 2: CDSTEP analysis
Culture
The culture of various personalities is capable of affecting the performance of the organization in
relation to how they are viewing the products and services presented to them in the marketing
platform.
Demographics

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The company will be targeting various demographics such as population that will be able to
determine the rate at which it carries out business in quite a number of market platforms. The
determination of appropriate and reliable demographics will lead to the emergence of success.
Social factors
Through various social factors, the norms and values of various customers will be very essential
for the entire company when determining a specific group of consumers.
Technological factors
Quite a number of technological factors within the market platform are known to have the
capability of go as far as influencing how various decisions are made on whether to enter or
avoid certain industries (Xu, Frankwick & Ramirez, 2016)..
Economic factors
Various types of economic factors which majorly include economic growth together with
different types of exchange rates being experienced within the market platform are known to
have the potential of affecting the purchasing power of quite a number of consumers.
Political/Legal factors
These factors are capable of offering a perfect description of various types of laws within
the market platform, as a result of these laws; the entire organization will be able to have a clear
understanding of what is legal together with what is not.

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