The fast-fashion retailer has announced that it hopes to have closed as many as 250 stores by the end of next year.
H&M, the world’ second largest clothing retailer has attributed the Coronavirus pandemic to some of the store closures, however the company has wanted to reduce their store footprint for the past few years, closing more stores and opening fewer new locations. The company revealed that around a quarter of its 5000 stores are able to renegotiate or exit contracts next year, allowing it to make the closures.
Sales have fallen by 16 per cent for the first quarter to August, due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus. around 900 of the brands stores were closed to customers in the period, towards the end of this quarter, only 200 of these stores still remained closed.The company has seen trading continue to recover in September following the pandemic, although sales remained 5% lower than the same month last year.
As with many other retail brands, H&M intends to step up its transformation plans with increased digital investment. Helena Helmersson, chief executive of H&M, said: “Although the challenges are far from over, we believe that the worst is behind us and we are well placed to come out of the crisis stronger. Demand for good-value, sustainable products is expected to grow in the wake of the pandemic and our customer offering is well positioned for this.”
