BRANDING & BRAND MANAGEMENT
Brand Market Environment The H&M Group have consistently expanded the brand Cos and from 2009 to 2014 Cos grew from one percent to three percent of H&M Group’s total revenue, an increase of $132 million to $625 million in sales according to estimates by Euro monitor (Euro monitor 2016). In recent months there have been a significant number of risk factors affecting fashion retail and directly affecting Cos within the H&M Group, including the decision to leave the European Union, fluctuating economies including the disparity between the value of the dollar against the pound. And most recently the press has reported that the UK arm of H&M’s profits after tax fell 19% to £36.4m for the year to 30 November 2015, as the retailer continued its store expansion programme (Drapers Sept 2016). The investment in bricks and mortar stores is having a negative effect on sales growth, profit and margin, and in these economically uncertain times the H&M Group needs to respond positively to this financial downturn and focus on its strengths and invest in routes to maximise sales growth and customer equity. The H&M Group reflect upon and address these risks regularly in their monthly company reports (H&M Group 2016). In the H&M Hennes and Mauritz three-month report (1st Dec 2015- 31st August 2016) they reported a number of risks and uncertainties
relating
to
fashion
including:
weather
conditions,
negative
macroeconomic changes, geopolitical risks, sustainability and external factors. But more significantly the areas in which this report alludes are changes in consumer behaviour and how the brand is managed consistently across all routes to market. Brand Issue This report looks to outline how Cos can successfully build on their customer equity (Brakus et al. 2009), grow year on year sales across all channels of the business and provide a positive customer experience for consumers when shopping for their brand across multichannel. This relies on Cos implementing a successful integration of their brand across a number of channels (customer omniscience) maximising customer data through integrated information technology systems as outlined in the introduction.
12 of 44