In October, H&M launched its first Shanghai Fashion Week collaboration with a Chinese designer brand Garçon by Garçon. Shortly after, the fashion retail giant opened stores on Pinduoduo and Douyin in October and November, expanding its digital presence in China.

Earlier this year, in May, H&M reopened its biggest flagship store on Nanjing East Road in Shanghai following a six-month renovation. The revamped store features a sleek, modern design, providing customers with an enhanced shopping experience that embodies H&M’s updated brand identity.

In 2023, H&M Group appointed Saed El-Achkar as President of the group’s Greater China Retail division. A experienced professional in the fashion industry, Saed quickly identified the fast-evolving consumer landscape in China. Embracing global branding strategies, he has worked to redefine H&M’s approach in this dynamic market.

After nearly a year in his role, FashionNetwork.com sat down with Saed El-Achkar to gain deeper insights into the brand’s plans for this critical region.

FashionNetwork.com:  We are curious about the first co-branded collection with Chinese designer brand Garçon by Garçon. How is the feedback so far and will you continue such collaborations with Chinese designers in the future?
Saed El-Achkar: We are very proud to work with the Shanghai Fashion Week committee to support Chinese creative talents to launch co-branded collections. Garçon by Garçon is an upcoming fashion brand with a unique taste that caters to young customers. We believe that our highly creative and forward-looking collections can resonate with fashion aspirers in China, and we already received very good feedback from media and customers.  And very interesting factor is that the part of the collection fans is from overseas, which is out of our expectation.  And of course, we hope to work with more Chinese creative talents and industry experts to demonstrate our creativity and fashion in the future.

FN:  How is the performance after the innovation of new flagship store on East Nanjing Road? 
SEA: First opened in 2014, during the past 10 years, H&M East Nanjing Road Store has become one of the most iconic flagship stores in China. The reopening of the East Nanjing marks one of the many steps that H&M takes in China market to improve our presence and make H&M a world of elevated products and experiences designed for self-expression.

H&M East Nanjing Road Store made a grand appearance with a refreshed store image, which received widespread attention from consumers and attracted more fashion-loving consumers to enter the store for shopping. 

Since the grand opening day until now, we see big progress regarding the square meter selling and conversion rate. More importantly, we see happy customers in our stores, they are truly happy to come to our stores to be inspired by our fashion products and elevated brand experience.

FN: Besides the offline channels, we also found H&M choosing officially to enter Pinduoduo and Douyin channels in October and November. What’s the story behind this? 
SEA : H&M is continuously working to create a seamless and inspiring omnichannel experience for our customers in China so they can find us anywhere at any time.  In the past, we already built our own WeChat Mini Programs, Tmall, and JD.com while trying to connect to in-store services.  And now, by partnering with these two leading domestic e-commerce platforms, we aim to reignite the fashion identity by offering fashion-forward collections, providing an inspiring digital experience, and delivering unbeatable value.  And we quickly gained sales momentum through a rich variety of products and affordable prices after the Grand Opening on Pinduoduo in October, making Pinduoduo one of H&M’s major online sales channels.  And we are looking forward to the Grand Opening on Douyin this November as well to provide another digital fashion experience to our customers.

FN: How is your online presence in the global market? What percentage of your business is online? 
SEA: The online channels of the H&M Group have witnessed rapid growth. According to the financial report for the first nine months of 2024 released by the Group in September, online revenue accounted for approximately 30% of the total sales.  For H&M China, we have observed a steady growth in online sales year after year. This trend has motivated us to launch our stores on three e-commerce platforms consecutively, as we recognize the significant potential in China’s online market. Our goal is to better meet our customers’ evolving needs and preferences through both our online channels and physical stores.

FN: What is H&M’s new store-opening plan? What led to this plan?
SEA: H&M has always regarded China as a very important market. In the future, we will continue to focus on upgrading H&M’s retail footprint in China by renewing our physical stores and strengthening our digital channels, providing Chinese consumers with a seamless omni-channel shopping experience, and introducing more fashionable, high-quality products with unbeatable price.

This month, we will be upgrading two new stores, one located in Guangzhou’s Zhonghua Plaza and the other in Hall of the Sun at Shanghai. Both stores will feature the brand’s latest design concepts and offer the trendiest fashion products. Since the beginning of this year, H&M has renovated a total of six stores in the Chinese market, located in Beijing, Chengdu, Shaoxing, and Shanghai.