Hennes & Mauritz is planning to spend about Eur100 million to establish around 50 stores in India. The goal is that the growing population and rising incomes in India would help fuel demand for the changing fashion sense of the market.
Fredrik Olsson, Head of Expansion for H&M, said that the Swedish fashion group would continue in the rapid expansion through opening of stores all across the world as it continues to put itself at par with its primary competitor, Inditex.
Sweden's H&M and Spain's Inditex have earned better success than other clothing retailers during a recession. Inditex owns Zara and owes its success to making catwalk designs nearer to the mass market purchasers at budget prices.
H&M though has fallen behind its archrival because of the lack of scale or presence in emerging markets such as India. H&M currently operates in 49 countries with 2,800 stores and earns nearly 80% from European sales. Inditex has a presence in 86 countries with 6,000 stores with 20% of revenues from Asia compared to H&M's measly 6%.
Join the Conversation