Swedish retailer H&M plans to bump up its presence in tier II and tier III cities of India to capture the growing demand for its apparel brands beyond the metros.
Selling in India since 2015, the company has 47 stores across the country and has aggressively expanded in India over the last five years. With shops opening each year with 12 in 2018 and eight in 2019, it is now targeting smaller cities in order to continue fuelling growth, as Indian sales jumped 43 per cent in 2019.
“In 2020, most of our store openings will be in tier-2 and tier-3 cities,” said Janne Einola, Director of the Indian subsidiary. “What is clear from our online platform is that we see a great demand in tier-2 and tier-3 cities. We have been testing tier-3 cities like Coimbatore and Jalandhar, which have been promising.”
In 2019, H&M teamed up with pure-players Myntra and Jabong to accelerate online sales. Globally, e-commerce generates 24 per cent of the business.
