H&M Marketing: Analysis of Promotional Tactics & Mix Policies

This report examines the marketing and promotional activities of H&M, a global fashion retailer. It explores H&M's use of advertisements featuring celebrities, sales and promotion strategies, direct marketing techniques including magazine placements and catalogs, and internet marketing through social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. The analysis covers H&M's shift towards eco-friendly advertising and its overall approach to reaching consumers in a competitive market, highlighting the importance of both traditional and digital marketing methods in maintaining sustainable growth. The report also touches upon the segmentation of marketing strategies based on consumer demographics, age groups, and social media engagement.

Running Head=MARKETING TACTICS OF H&M
Marketing tactics of H&M
Marketing strategies used by H&M
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Executive summary: Promotion and Marketing are an integral part of an organization; recent years
have shown a tremendous increase in the e-commerce market in retail clothing. The advent of the
internet has revolutionized the marketing strategy of transactions. H&M group has used social media
platforms and various other digital marketing sources to reach out to its customers. The organization
have efficiently used social media sites like Face book, Twitter and Instagram for interaction and
introduction of new products and various sales offer.

Marketing tactics of H&M
Contents
1. Introduction..............................................................................................................................2
2. Marketing and promotional activity of H&M..........................................................................3
Advertisements............................................................................................................................3
Sales and Promotion....................................................................................................................6
Direct Marketing..........................................................................................................................6
Internet Marketing.......................................................................................................................9
Public Relations.........................................................................................................................12
3. Conclusion..............................................................................................................................12
4. Reference................................................................................................................................14
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Marketing tactics of H&M
1. Introduction
Retail clothing commerce has shown a flourishing growth over the last few years mostly credited
to its swift and successful evolution over the years. The advancement of technology related to
designing and clothing productions along with the huge involvement in the e-commerce sector
has helped retail clothing businesses to be one of the utmost progressive businesses in the world.
Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) is a Switzerland based company who initiated their business in
Vasteras city of Switzerland. Since its start of operation in the year of 1947, H&M has grown
throughout the years as a global brand (Księżak, 2016). The vast expansion of the H&M can be
measured by the presence of its stores in seventy-four different markets spread throughout the
continents of Australia, North America, South America, Europe, and Asia with a workforce of
almost 180,000 (H&M Grpup, 2018). The global H&M group consists of eight major brands
such as H&M, COS, Afound, & other stories, ARKET, Monki, H&M Home and Weekday, a
pictorial representation of the logos of the brands associated with H&M are shown in Figure 1.
As there are varieties of brands come under the H&M group its market grab has increased
throughout the years. At present altogether H&M group provides consumers service regarding
various styles and trends in the field of clothing, beauty, accessories, healthy food products and
items for home decor. The advancement in the e-commerce market resulted in the transfer of
costumers to online shopping rather than a brick and mortar business model. However, H&M has
shown steady growth in its physical stores along with its e-commerce sector (Spanke, 2020).
Figure 1: Brands available under H&M group (Oishi, 2018)
Marketing strategy works as an important tool for an organization for the achievement of
organizational goals. The promotional events carried out by the organization for the introduction
of a new product or opening of the store, pricing of goods, distribution of product and
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Marketing tactics of H&M
standardization of the product quality plays a vital role in the growth of the firm (Tan & Sousa,
2013).
The type of lifestyle and personality of an individual or a society is highly dependent on their
social, psychological and cultural environment of the society (Van Acker et al., 2016). H&M
global comprising eight major aforementioned organizations have devised their marketing
strategies based on the requirements of consumers and the market in which their products have
been introduced. Marketing of the product is highly segmented based on the various aspect of the
market such as consumer demography, age group, class and family life. The social media
marketing such utilization of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram has made a huge impact on
consumers and is one of the modern marketing practices applied throughout the commercial
sector (Chianasta & Wijaya, 2014). The application of social media marketing approach has been
applied by H&M for the promotion of various offers in their store or in case of opening of a new
store (Kang & Kim, 2017).
2. Marketing and promotional activity of H&M
Marketing is one of the fundamental parts of any firm, in the market of globalizations where the
consumer expects cheaper but high-quality products (Mackay & Wilmshurst, 2012). Therefore
the marketing of a product is as much important as the quality of the product. In a globally
changing and challenging market a well-planned marketing strategy is a prerequisite for any
organization to maintain sustainable growth (Hult, 2011). The marketing strategy of a firm
should be standardized as per the products and services offered by the organization along with
the values of the firm on which it operates. However, the marketing of a product should be
changed based on the market in which the product has been introduced. Therefore, it is of prime
importance that marketing strategy is a mix of standardization and adaptability as per the market
requirement (Brei et al., 2011).
Advertisements
An advertisement is a form of verbal and non-verbal communication through the service
provider for a consumer, which is generally directed towards attracting the consumers towards
the products offered by the service providers. Most of the early video advertisement of H&M
targeted youth as they future youth icons such as David beckham and pop star Nicki minaj.
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Marketing tactics of H&M
However, with a change in time H&M have shifted their advertisement focus towards
environment-friendly approach and a sustainable growth model.
In the case of the advertisement using different celebrity H&M have promoted their products
through celebrity faces like England football team ex-Captain David beckham shown if Figure
2, who has partnered with H&M since 2011. In 2016 the star power of Kavin heart and David
beckham was seen for a promotional video named “The road trip” of H&M.
Figure 2: David beckham at the launch of H&M collection.
Models like Naomi campbell in the year of 2017 was featured in an video shoot for the
promotion of “H&M womenswear fall fashion 2017”.
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Marketing tactics of H&M
Figure 3: Naomi Campbell at fashion walk organised by H&M.
In the holiday season of close to November 2017 a promotional video named “A magical
holiday” featuring Nicki Minaj, Jesse Williams and John Turturro.
Figure 4: Nicki minaj in left and Jesse williams in the right
In the recent advertisements H&M has focused its attention towards eco-friendly clothing,
made of 50% recycled plastic bottles or materials having impact on the environment. The
video feature’s Vogue magazines cover star Adwoa aboah, with the model dance their way
with a voice over of eco-friendly statement.
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Marketing tactics of H&M
Figure 5: Adwoa aboah in H&M clothing.
Sales and Promotion
It is a marketing strategy aimed at the sudden increase in sales by providing lucrative offers or in
some cases product promotion by proving special offers over a short period (Valette-Florence et
al., 2011). The strategy is generally applied for clearance of old piled up stock or in some cases
introducing a new product in the market (Cui et al., 2012). The main objective of this strategy is
to attract more customers towards respective service providers and to provide a temporary boost
to sales (Felgate & Fearne, 2015). In terms of product launch, promotional sales are used as a
tool to make market space of that product, in a case similar products are already present in the
market.
The sales and promotion of a product depend on the type of product such as H&M is mainly a
clothing brand, with a wide range of collections in terms of women, men and children. The wide
collection of clothing in H&M stores includes designers from designer wear to everyday wear.
Sales are generally offered at the time festive seasons or at the time of stock clearance, Figure 6
presents a pictorial representation of some of the sales offered by H&M in recent years.
Figure 6: Types of sales offered by H&M
Direct Marketing
Direct marketing is a kind of advertising involving physical marketing materials to communicate
with consumers regarding the services or the information related to different products (Brinson et
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Marketing tactics of H&M
al., 2011). The direct marketing strategies are generally targeted to selective consumers based on
locations, ages, and classes. It is a form of advertising which aims to direct and influence a group
of consumers towards a particular product or to follow a set course of action (Pappas, 2016).
Applications of direct marketing are in the cases of tangible products needed to be presented to a
potential customer. The printed advertisements, coupons and flyers generally help in branding a
product or a firm. The newspapers and magazines are one of the most influential tools of direct
marketing, based on the segment of public purchasing newspapers and magazines,
advertisements of the products are varied (Petrova, 2011). In the case of fashion and clothing
magazines such as Vogue or Harper's Bazaar are treated by the readers as an authoritative source
of fashion. Therefore, the cost of advertising varied based on advertisement positions in
magazines. A book published by (Lea-Greenwood, 2013) indicates the importance of placements
of advertisements in a magazine. It have been reported by the aforementioned authors (Lea-
Greenwood, 2013) in their book “Fashion marketing communication” that the most expensive
advertisements are generally the back cover of a magazine, due to the habit of most of the
peoples in terms of carrying their magazines in such a way that the back cover is always visible.
H&M direct marketing strategies involves the utilization of various fashion magazines for their
advertisement and fashion blog for the introduction of their new collaborations with some
designers. Figure 7 presents an example of collaboration between Vogue magazines and H&M,
in figure image of Nyasha matonhodze on the cover page of Vogue UK May 2012’s magazines
named “More Dash Than Cash”. The right bottom corner covers show the logo of H&M, which
confirms their collaboration with Vogue UK. Along with Vogue, H&M have introduced their
magazine in the fashion arena for customer interaction and introduction of new designs and
trends available in their store
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Marketing tactics of H&M
Figure 7: Vogue cover page in association with H&M
The collaboration of H&M with blogs in Vogue can be seen from Figure 8 in which a blog is
written by (Leitch, 2016), presents the elaboration of the fourth H&M fashion show in
Stockholm. The information regarding the time of availability of the piece shown in the fashion
show, different Instagram celebrities who attended the show and an overview regarding the
different clothing presented in the fashion show.
Figure 8: Blog of H&M in fashion magazine
Along with the blogs in magazines and appearance on a cover page of magazines, catalogs are
also one of the main sources of direct marketing. Figure 9 shows the H&M catalog for
Autumn/Winter season in the year of 2012.
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Marketing tactics of H&M
Figure 9: Catalogue of H&M
Internet Marketing
The advent of the internet has revolutionized information transfers. Marketing involves relating
the consumers with products and services provided by the firm. The utilization of internet for
marketing is known as digital marketing which includes different electronic mediums such as
websites, social media pages, electronic mail and different search engines (Smith, 2011). Digital
marketing provides different types of platforms in terms of the interaction between service
providers and consumers, which offers boundless opportunities (Joseph et al., 2015). The
traditional marketing strategies such as newspaper advertisements, flyers, roadside billboards,
telephonic calls, and physical marketing are still in use but digital marketing provides more
coverage than offline marketing (Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick, 2019). The digital marketing helps
in the introduction of offers at the right time in the right place, as in the present scenario most of
the consumers are on social media websites getting different updates from various social media
websites such as Face book, Instagram and Twitter. Therefore, it is of prime importance for an
organization to be active on the social media website (Phan et al., 2011).
H&M marketing team has recognized the importance of internet marketing strategies in present
scenario, as a result of it they have developed their social media interaction page on Twitter,
Instagram and Facebook, also H&M have their youtube channel and pin interest page for the
introduction of their advertisements, new stores, products and various collaborations with the
designers. H&M have developed their Facebook page for the United Kingdom named
@hmunitedkindom with approximately 37,655,749 followers till 24th February 2020 and it
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Marketing tactics of H&M
shows various clothing designs and range of clothing available in H&M. Figure 10 presents the
Facebook page of H&M UK, in figure different range of clothing along with their prices, can be
seen, which indicates a broad range of product availability in H&M stores.
Figure 10: Facebook page of H&M
The utilization of social media websites depends on the segment of society along with the region;
therefore it is of prime importance for an organization to be present on most of the social media
websites to cover most of the population. Twitter is one of the social media websites which helps
organizations to interact with their consumers and also for consumer to directly interact with the
service provider. H&M twitter page which was created in December 2009 is shown in Figure 11,
in the figure along with the diversification of design availability the number of follower of H&M
UK twitter account can be seen which had approximately two lakh nineteen thousand two
hundred Twitter followers as per the official twitter page of H&M UK dated 24th February 2020.
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Marketing tactics of H&M
Figure 11 : H&M UK Twitter home page
Instagram is one of the social media applications which are used by people for sharing posts and
information. H&M have their own Instagram account with approximately 34.8 m followers till
24th February 2020 as can be seen from Figure 12, it also allows customers to feature in official
Instagram stories of H&M Instagram account.
Figure 12: Instagram page of H&M
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