Target Market for H&M
Hennes and Mauritz popularly known as H&M is a multinational apparel retail company that serves millions of customers with fresh fashion brands such as MONKI, Cheap Monday, and so on. The target market for the company are consumers who have a need for trending fashion products comprising men, women and children. They have segmented their target market accordingly such as women and men ranging from 18 to 45 years old along with children ranging from 1 to 15 years old. In this subsequent report, the focus would be on H&M’s market strategies and planning with the help of which they influence consumer’s decision making process.
The company has adopted various strategies that impacts on the consumers’ decision making process.
The consumers of apparel industry are demanding as they have an urge to purchase clothes which are trending in the fashion industry. H&M recognises this demanding need of the consumers and delivers products which are trendy and fresh fashion styles. The targeted consumers of the company belongs to middle class and upper middle class hence, consumers have a demand for affordable products that suffices their fashion need. The company recognises its target customers and accordingly sets the price range. The new pricing strategy of H&M has been an immense success as the company gained immense profit after lowering their price tag (Malviya 2018). The company promises its customers of selling products that are affordable and trendy in a sustainable way. Consumers are heavily influenced by those companies which provide products in a sustainable procedure. The company recognises this need among consumers and market their product accordingly. H&M put continuous effort of providing products to its targeted customers in affordable prices that satiates the fashion needs of both middle class and upper middle class section of the society. The advertisements that are featured in the television commercials depicts this idea in an appealing procedure. This influences the consumers’ decision making procedure as they are visually tempted with the television commercials that aim to provide trending fashion apparels in affordable prices.
H&M is a well-known brand that the majority of consumers could easily locate. If the consumers are unaware of the company then H&M have extensive advertising strategies where consumers could externally find information about the company. The billboard advertisements and television commercials featuring some of the popular faces of the film and television industry has gained the company to maximise its reach over an extensive population (The Drum 2018). The internal research of consumers regarding the company triggers the purchasing decision among them as the company is highly popularised name worldwide (Carraher 2014). The company has a well-maintained websites for various locations in the world such as United States, Britain, and so on (Hm.com 2018). These websites sell products online and even includes information regarding the company and the brands that the company sell. The company offers staple products that the consumers are used to and recognise. Some of the factors that influence the consumer’s search choices are market characteristics such as price range, information availability, advertising, and so on. The product characteristics also seem to influence the consumer’s search options, as consumers tend to search products that have a positive influence (Clemes, Gan and Zhang 2014). Another factor that affect consumer’s search option is consumer characteristics such as shopping orientation, product involvement and so on.
H&M’s Strategies
Consumers tend to purchase those products that satiates their need (C?t?lin and Andreea 2014). In this scenario, consumers could enumerate the following criteria that might ease their purchasing decision.
- The price of the product always helps an individual to clear his or her confusion for purchasing a product (Beneke, Greig and Mukaiwa 2013). In this aspect, H&M provides affordable pricing that satiates most of the consumers need. The target consumers of H&M generally belongs to middle class and upper middle class thus, affordable pricing option is the need of such consumers.
- The brands that are included in a particular apparel company also influences the consumers purchasing decision (Seiler 2013). The well-known brand alternatives available extensively can always influence a consumer to choose a specific company for purchasing purpose. For instance, consumers are likely to look for options that have a wide of range of brands in their shops. In this case, H&M provides a decent number of brands under its retail company.
- The terms and conditions of sale is another criterion that the consumers consider while looking for alternatives before purchasing a product (Shen 2014). A complex selling condition can influence consumers to search for other alternatives that offer a more satiating consumer terms and conditions of sale. In this scenario, H&M provides terms and conditions which are not complex and are rather according to the needs of the customers.
By this stage, consumers have evaluated all the alternatives that are available in the market and now have made the decision to purchase the brand that he or she has intended to buy. However, there are two aspects that could change a consumer’s decision to purchase and these are –
- Negative review from others could heavily influence consumer’s buying behaviour at this stage (Cantallops and Salvi 2014). For instance, currently H&M is facing backlash, as the advertisement was termed racist (ABC News 2018). A negative review as such could influence consumers to not buy products of the particular brand. The customer review also heavily influe3nce the consumers purchasing behaviour. The feedback regarding the brand or the product could influence a consumer to whether buy or deny the decision to buy that particular product.
- Another aspect that might influence the purchasing decision of a consumer is unexpected situation that may disrupt the buying behaviour (Malthouse 2013). For instance, losing a job or the shutdown of the store could disrupt the buying behaviour of a consumer. These situations are unexpected as it might occur any time. These can heavily affect the purchasing decision of a consumer. Losing a job means that the consumer would not be financially capable of purchasing at the moment. This effects on his or her purchasing behaviour.
At this stage of consumer decision-making procedure, the consumer has purchased the product and would be or using it. Customer satisfaction comes at this stage that is extremely important for the organisation who is selling the product (Wu 2013). A good review from the customer post purchase could benefit a company or organisation for a long-term. It is also noted at this stage that if the customer is satisfied with the purchased product then he or she might end up purchasing from the same company next time. This would benefit the organisation for a long run, as it will gain a loyal customer. H&M currently have a customer service platform on its online websites that responds to customers post purchase . The return and refund policy heavily that the company offers at this stage could satisfy customers to a certain extent. If the customers are not satisfied with the purchase products then he or she might return or replace the product online. The customer could even choose the refund option where the customer could get the spent money back. Although, the company has not adopted any innovative measure at this stage still the present procedure is satisfactory.
- It is observed that H&M is facing some major backlash from its racist advertisement and this has garnered negative review for the company. In order to repair this image, the company could market its product in a positive attitude. With the help of advertisements, the company could give out a positive message to the society. The company bring out their prior examples that will help clients and customers to regain their trust on the company. The company could organise an event that would support a cause or help raise an issue. Therefore, engaging in corporate social responsibility is the best way to repair its damaged image among the consumers. The company should remove the advertisement immediately as the longer it stays the longer it will create a bad reputation for the company. The company should even release a statement regarding the advertisement, as doing so will give out a positive attitude of the company.
- H&M shall adopt some innovative measures that would satisfy customers further in the post purchase stage. If a customer is not satisfied with the product then the customer service department should instantly respond to it. Delayed responses could create a bad relationship between the customer and the company. The return and refund policies should be smooth and instant. In order to satisfy the customers, the company shall give out some complimentary gifts. This would create a good impression on the customers for a long run. H&M is not abrupt with its customer service as well thus, it is important that the company should improve its customer service by providing necessary training and increasing workers in the particular department.
References
ABC News. 2018. H&M stores trashed in protest over ‘racist’ ad. online Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-14/people-protest-against-racist-ad/9327196 Accessed 13 Aug. 2018.
Beneke, J., Flynn, R., Greig, T. and Mukaiwa, M., 2013. The influence of perceived product quality, relative price and risk on customer value and willingness to buy: a study of private label merchandise. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 22(3), pp.218-228.
Cantallops, A.S. and Salvi, F., 2014. New consumer behavior: A review of research on eWOM and hotels. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 36, pp.41-51.
Carraher, S.M., 2014. Consumer behavior, online communities, collaboration, IFRS, and Tung. Journal of Technology Management in China, 9(1).
C?t?lin, M.C. and Andreea, P., 2014. Brands as a mean of consumer self-expression and desired personal lifestyle. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 109, pp.103-107.
Clemes, M.D., Gan, C. and Zhang, J., 2014. An empirical analysis of online shopping adoption in Beijing, China. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 21(3), pp.364-375.
Hm.com. 2018. H&M offers fashion and quality at the best price. online Available at: https://www.hm.com/au Accessed 13 Aug. 2018.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8XWLUwQm94
Malthouse, E.C., Haenlein, M., Skiera, B., Wege, E. and Zhang, M., 2013. Managing customer relationships in the social media era: Introducing the social CRM house. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 27(4), pp.270-280.
Malviya, S. 2018. H&M sales double as pricing strategy pays off. online The Economic Times. Available at: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/retail/hm-clocks-in-rs-700-crore-sales-in-nine-months/articleshow/60870770.cms Accessed 13 Aug. 2018.
Seiler, S., 2013. The impact of search costs on consumer behavior: A dynamic approach. Quantitative Marketing and Economics, 11(2), pp.155-203.
Shen, B., 2014. Sustainable fashion supply chain: Lessons from H&M. Sustainability, 6(9), pp.6236-6249.
The Drum. 2018. Ad of the Day: H&M sparks a sultry flamenco of femininity (with added Winona Ryder). online Available at: https://www.thedrum.com/news/2018/03/22/ad-the-day-hm-sparks-sultry-flamenco-femininity-with-added-winona-ryder Accessed 13 Aug. 2018.
Wu, L., 2013. The antecedents of customer satisfaction and its link to complaint intentions in online shopping: An integration of justice, technology, and trust. International Journal of Information Management, 33(1), pp.166-176.
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