Haley Ross VM Project #1 October 7, 2014
Low-End Retailer: H&M Brick & Mortar Location: 840 N. Michigan Ave. Chicago, IL What year did the company start? How many stores do they operate? Company founded: 1947 in Sweden Stores: 3,300 in 54 countries Are all the stores carbon copies of the same model? Yes, for the most part all of the stores have white walls with no sort of decoration within the store. Where is the flagship located? Fifth Avenue, New York City What type of merchandise do they sell? What services do they provide? Fast-fashion clothing, jewelry, and accessories for men, women, teenagers, and children. H&M does not provide any services. What is the overall look of the stores façade? What is your initial impression based upon the store’s appearance? The façade of the Michigan Ave. H&M store is beige stone. There are 2 large, open back windows and glass doors that are framed in black with the store sign hanging above. The mannequins in the windows are wearing the latest H&M fall looks. My impression is that the appearance is pretty basic and not very eye-catching. You can tell that the stone building was already existing and the H&M façade was simply added. What is the aesthetic of the interior? What is your initial impression based upon the store’s appearance? The aesthetic of the interior is minimalistic. There is no added decorations. The color palette is mostly white walls a few splashes of red, which are mainly the H&M logo or signage. There is red signage advertising a mid-season sale. The layout is very crowded due to the high volume of clothing being sold. While the layout is crowded, the merchandise is sectioned by type. For example all of the new, seasonal items are placed in the front where the customer enters. The men’s clothing is in its own section as well as the children’s clothing. The merchandise is also sectioned more specifically, such as sportswear, business wear, and basics. Most of the merchandise is hung on silver racks, while some of it is placed out on black tables. My initial
impression of the store is that it is quite overwhelming with the amount of merchandise displayed. The minimalistic aesthetic gave me impression that the focus is on the merchandise. How do the exterior and the interior of the store relate to one another? The interior and exterior are both very minimalistic. They also relate because of the open back windows, which enable the customer to see inside the store even before entering. How do the aesthetics convey the type of merchandise offered? The simple aesthetics reflect the quality of the clothing. The basic appearance of the store conveys the basic quality of the merchandise sold. The simplicity also reflects that H&M sells fast-fashion. The merchandise is being changed out so frequently that it would be impossible and costly to keep up with corresponding visual displays. What type of decorations, graphics, and ‘lifestyle’ elements are in the store? I did not see any type of decoration or graphics in the store. As far as lifestyle elements, the only way lifestyles were conveyed was by the way the clothing was merchandised in related sections (i.e. sportswear, business wear). What was your experience in the store? Both visually and customer-service oriented. My experience visually was very overwhelming. It was stimulating not because of any sort of eye-catching decorations or graphics, but because of all of the merchandise everywhere you turn. There is not a corner of the store that does not have merchandise in it. My experience with customer-service was underwhelming. I did not purchase anything, but I did try on some clothing. The employees in the fitting room were unfriendly and seemed bored. Out on the floor of the store there were hardly any employees walking around to assist customers.
Store Website
Does the website support what you saw in the store? Explain. Yes. The website layout is minimalistic like the store’s appearance. There are tons are tabs to click on for all of the different categories of clothing and accessories, just like the overwhelming amount of merchandise in the store. It also is not personalized to specific stores, just like the store was very basic and offered no personal touches. What was on their home page? How does that compare to what you saw in the store windows or prominent locations on the floor? The first thing you see is a large red advertisement for the mid-season sale. Below that are smaller advertisements for a denim campaign as well as new fall merchandise. The website reflects the promotions in the store because the store was also advertising the mid-season sale, and the mannequins were all wearing new fall looks and the fall merchandise was placed at the entrance to the store.
What is the aesthetic of the website? How does it compare with the brick-and-mortar store? The website aesthetic matches the store aesthetic perfectly. It is minimalistic and uses the same color scheme or white, red, and black. What was your experience on the website? Was it easy to navigate? User-friendly? I liked the website. It was very easy to navigate and user-friendly. The tabs were right at the top of the homepage and clearly labeled ladies, men, kids, etc. Then all of the related merchandise categories popped up under the tabs. The pictures of the merchandise are good quality, with the price and color options listed below.
Social Media Accounts
What type of social media presence did you find? On what sites are they actively present? H&M has a blog, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, and Google+ account. They are actively present on all of their social media accounts. The post almost daily about the latest ad campaigns, advertisements, sales, and trends. Describe their ‘personality’ on these sites. Their ‘personality’ is very hip and trendy with an almost fashion magazine feel. They are constantly posting about hot new looks, style inspiration, and celebrities and fashion professionals. Are their social media, in-store, and web presence cohesive? Explain. Yes they are cohesive because all of them are trendy and up to date. The store carries fastfashion merchandise, so it is always up to date with the latest trends, while the website and social media are always posting about the latest trends. Do they seem to be targeting the same customer through each outlet? Yes because all of the outlets are focused on the latest trends. The social media and website postings use merchandise customers can then purchase at an H&M store. Would you like to work for this company? In what regard? No I would not want to work for H&M because it is way too corporate, so I feel that it would be hard to advance in the company. From a visual merchandising aspect, I also would not want to work there because there are hardly any visuals, so I feel like there is no room for creativity.