Essay on Zara and H&M

H&M

Hennes & Mauritz AB is one of the largest Swedish multinational clothing retail companies which is mostly known for the fast-fashion clothing for men, women, children and teenagers. As per 2015, the company was operating in 42 different countries with a total of 4,000 stores. Also, the company is well known due to the huge number of employees it has in different countries. It is infarct the second largest biggest clothing company, just behind Spain-based Indetix. H&M has faced stiff competition from different clothing companies in the world such as Gucci and Channel. However, with the proper management of the company, it has been able to increase its profits yearly.

H&M has invested a huge amount of their resource in researching on the modern types of trending clothes. As such, it is evident that it produces new types of out wares for different age groups. To remain competitive in the market, in the past decades, the company has employed the use of online marketing in which customer can make such orders. Also, the company has tried to advertise its products on different platforms such as through the use of social media. According to the reports, the social media has become one of the most used channels for advertisement in the 21 century. Through that, H&M has been able to market its products to different people in various parts of the world.

The company was first discovered by Erling Persson in 1947, and it is believed that he opened the fist store in Sweden. In the past years, the company has collaborated with some of the major clothing companies as a way of increasing their profits.

Zara

Zara is a Spanish clothing and accessories retailer which is based in Arteixo, Galicia. It was founded by Amancio Ortega, in 1975 and it is a brand of one of the largest clothing company in that country Inditex. The company started its first expansion in Portugal after and in 1988, it enters the United States where it was received well by the customers. The company also, employed various methods of marketing to create awareness to their product after it was launched. Many of their competitors were having a large pool of loyal customers, and they had to convince them to try out their product. As such, the management had to reduce the prices of most of the producers than the market price. Many people saw that move as negative since the company would not be able to meet its operational cost. However, that market strategy worked to their advantage as they were able to attract a huge pool of customers that made them venture into new markets (Stranger, 2010).

Zara first opened its first store in Japan in 2002, which was considered the biggest move for the company due to the large population of the people (Lyons, 2012). Based on their reports, the company was able to double their profits twice through selling it in the Japan market as they had researched on the taste and preference of the people. Also, the company was able to venture into Africa in 2004, employing a huge number of the residents. What is more, most governments have been able to buy shares from that company as a way of investing in it due to the huge profits its makes every year.

References

H & M Hennes & Mauritz: Collaboration with Designers. (1900).

Lyons, G. (2012). Zara. Chivers Press.

Stranger, J., & Hodson, S. (2010). Zara. Oxford, England: Isis Audio Books.