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Essay: H & M technology, PR and sustainability

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  • Subject area(s): Business essays
  • Reading time: 7 minutes
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  • Published: 14 March 2022*
  • Last Modified: 22 July 2024
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  • Words: 2,023 (approx)
  • Number of pages: 9 (approx)
  • Tags: Fast fashion essays

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H&M is fondly known for its inspiring and aspirational visual merchandising displays, by keeping up-to-date with new seasonal trends in the market. As H&M focuses on allowing their clothing to express itself naturally through their display via neutral interior designs, allowing the colours and designs to shine.

H&M is mainly known as a fast pace retailer that produces a range of high and low-end clothing products for its consumers, that is spread across the shop levels and spaces. Also, H&M never fails with their visual merchandising of their stores, as they ensure the store is suited for all and presents its wide range of products.

Tony Morgan states that, “visual merchandising extends beyond its role of supporting the wares and becomes an art form, creating a statement or provoking a reaction”. Morgan suggests that visual merchandising is key aspect of retailers by comparing the form of merchandising to an art form. As he believes that a retailers visual merchandising such as, “color, props, and atmospheric lighting”, foreshadows a retailer’s merchandise. Therefore, Visual merchandising is a key aspect for retailers to invest in, as consumers are lured into a store from visual aspects rather than their products.

Moreover, when entering the H&M home-ware range you notice the feel of a premium store rather than a fast-fashion retailer with its monochrome luxe detailing through their blank interior canvas design, that brings their products to life. These designs are delivered through their store features of room sets, by presenting their new ranges of furniture, kitchen, tableware, and lighting through their display. A low-tech touch H&M has presented in their home-ware sections are gold keys that are attached to styling tips amongst their visual merchandising for customers to be able to easily to create the look within their own homes. The store has also added a homely touch to the store by adding florists and café’s inside their stores to express the stores’ origins by offering a Swedish inspired menu, such as food and drinks.

Technology

In the respect of technology, H&M has not failed to deliver enhanced technology innovations over the past 3 years. H&M has introduced a new website alongside a new mobile app that is equipped with more extended abilities compared to other fast-fashion retailers. H&M hopes to improve its retail experiences through new technology, from the basic in-store and online experience. The latest technology H&M have formed alongside Google, is a voice app introduced within the ‘H&M Home’ app. This has allowed the app to become more accessible for all (i.e. for those impaired and that need extra support with technology). H&M is one of the first fast-fashion brands to provide a voice application within their app to provide extra support for their consumers.

H&M has also, introduced a visual search and, a ‘scan and find’ feature in-store.

The visual search allows the consumer to search for an item by taking a picture on the app to find a similar or exact copy of the product from the H&M’s catalogue. While the ‘scan and find’ allows customers to find additional information about a product such as the sizing, colour availability and item availability in-store. This is done by scanning the barcode on the product using the app from a tablet or phone. This helps H&M become more efficient by shifting the supply chain to the demand chain ensures the products are wanted and needed. The block-chain of technology is allowing data to be collected based on what is bought and what is searched repeatedly. H&M’s technology innovations are raising H&M’s brand name closer to the high-end brands, as they are gaining new audiences and new celebrity endorsements and collaborations i.e. Versace/H&M or Balmain/H&m. This is supported by the increase of online sales in February 2019 by 22% H&M, which has reported, based on the e-commercials and app enhancements.

Also, H&M’s group brand has partnered with HoloMe to create and form high definition human holograms within augmented reality. This new innovative addition to the brand will allow consumers to explore products in greater detail. Once started H&M can start to provide in-store holograms around the store for the visual merchandising that will decrease the cost of purchasing mannequins and decorations around the store. This will help increase profit and help H&M to invest more money into the sustainable fashion campaign they are focused on.

Public relations

“The target customers of H&M belong to the group of fashionable and trendy consumers who see shopping as a social activity providing pleasure in their daily life.” This suggests that H&M does not profile individuals by their ages, genders or sex. Instead their clothing’s are targeted for those that love fashion, which is a very broad target audience. This statement came out in 2013 as their ‘target market’, fits the society we are in today as a ‘no label society’.

H&M have built a steady relationship with their consumers over the years: by listening and interacting with their customers via social media, competitions, and surveys. This creates primary quantitive and qualitative data. The data allows H&M to obtain vital information on their services.

As a fast-paced fashion retailer, H&M focuses on providing high-end services to achieve a high satisfaction rate from its customers. For example, H&M and many other brands have teamed up with a company known as a ‘klarna’ that is an online scheme known as, ‘buy now and pay later’, allowing customers to pay in instalment plans within 3 months, 6 months or 12-month plans. This allows a spread out payment plan for their customers. Allowing the products to become more affordable for all. Klarna is a fine-tech company that allows customers to receive an in-store experience online by allowing the customer to try on the products before purchasing the item. However, klarna can also become a negative aspect of H&M as consumers may over spend, leading the business and consumer into debt. Therefore, it can have a long-term affect on the business. However, Klarna is programmed to do a credit check before allowing an individual to purchase an item; which can be seen as a sustainable way to shop.

Circular Fashion Forward

In comparison to other fast-paced fashion retail groups, H&M are exploring new and more innovative ideas. As one of the leading fashion retail group, H&M is one of the first retail groups to consider their environmental footprint they are leaving world-wide. For example, H&M’s greenhouse gas emission has reduced by an estimate of up to ‘80%’ from 2013 to 2018 which was released by H&M’s global GHG. As H&M believes their production process has an impact as much as their materials.

I believe H&M is ahead in the industry of sustainable fashion as they are striving for 100% cotton clothing currently. Cotton is a very popular fibres material that is grown naturally; hence have a smaller environmental impact. Natural cotton is produced by planting the cotton, which then develops seed pods, that are moist seeds that are ready to be harvested to produce. This natural form of harvesting ensures that the material is comfortable and durable. However, the process after harvesting the plant needs a lot of coal and other heavy machinery to turn the cotton bolls into materials. An additional negative factor, regarding the production of cotton, is that not all cotton bolls are grown organically. As the non-organic cotton has a massive contribution to the environmental pollution by using toxic materials such as pesticides, insecticides and toxic carcinogenic chemicals that expose the cotton growers and consumers too.

H&M ensures their working ethics and standards met the ‘CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species), and the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red list of Critically endangered; Endangered; or Vulnerable listed species’. Ensuring their farmers and productions are practised ethically, as H&M ensure their actions met the human rights standards set by the UN as well as, ensuring their practice is legal in the country. For example, H&M does not accept cotton that orginates from ‘Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan or Syria’ due to the serve concerns of their unethical practice that don’t met the human rights standards, as well as due to the armed conflicts occurring. The actions H&M have taken ensures their produce and farmers are treated fair.

As research suggests that non-organic cotton and materials may have an impact on consumer’s health especially a lead on cancer as the hazardous chemicals have been associated with hormone defects and birth defects of both humans and animals. This research was carried out by Greenpeace: ‘Toxic Threads: The Big Fashion Stitch-Up’. The Greenpeace carried forward an investigation on, ‘How big brands are making consumers unwitting accomplices in the toxic water cycle’, as well as ‘The psychology of Fashion’, by Carolyn Mair whom discusses the negative and positive impacts fashion has on our health not just the cognitive process, but the impact on the body health as well as, psychological aspects of buying and throwing clothes away; which helps H&M to understand the consumers’ psychological perspectives. H&M had only 33% NPE positive which was one of the lowest percentages compared to other big brands such as, Only & Vancl that were signified as 100% positive of NPEs; which are chemicals that cause health-related problems and an effect on society. Therefore, H&M has accomplished and worked hard in working towards the future compared to other brands. For example, H&M is working hard on only producing organic cotton by buying new land and developments to produce cotton on. H&M ensure their consumers are aware the items are 100% organic cotton by labelling the item with a green tag.

During my investigation, I explored the concept of natural sources forming different materials. I came across this book, ‘The origins of Banana-fibre cloth in the Ryukyus, Japan’ by Katrien Handrickx. I mainly focused on the aspects that highlighted the idea of how materials can be formed by natural produces i.e. fruits, such as, banana, pineapple, and coconut. Discussing the aspect of how the peels and ends of the banana can be formed into natural strong materials by using only natural forms of productions. As the Japanese first produced the materials and clothing from fruits, which many individuals used during the 17th century, however, as time passed people preferred the faster productions and products i.e. cotton and silk, which then become famous and overtook popularity of creating materials from fruits. H&M can investigate and look further into the idea of forming products using natural produces. H&M can then make a contract with restaurants or other companies that use fruits to put their fruit and vegetable wastes separate from the waste. This would help H&M with their sustainability in as the item can be recycled into creating a new product or can be placed in the compost.

Theanne Schiros was one of the TEDx Talks prize winners, with her sustainable fashion innovation of “using abundant, rapidly replenishing organisms” that takes a process of a non-harmful chemical process that allows that bacteria’s to develop during a process of time, by going against the traditional and known production cycle. For example, Schiro’s used bacteria’s which she feed sugar and water, which then developed over a while into a thick material which then can be shaped. However, the only negative aspect of the material is that the material is not waterproof, however, the material looks similar to silk and leather. Which is better than using animals or harmful chemicals. H&M can fund or be one of the first fashion company to create clothing out of bacteria’s, kelp, or fungi, by getting involved in supporting Schiros by using developing the material into different products. For example, after growing out of shoes rather than just throwing the shoes out, the consumers would be able to compost the shoe to create a bigger size or different look.

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