H&M Says Omni-Channel Can Wait in U.S.

Pick up the research report du jour and you know a couple of things for certain. One is that consumers want to shop where they want and when they want. In simple terms, it’s not enough to just open a store today, merchants need to offer a seamless 24/7 experience across a variety of digital channels including online, mobile and social. The second is that each channel needs to be personalized and technologically optimized to deliver the best possible shopping experience at each digital stop.

So knowing all of the above, how is it that the fast-fashion chain H&M is delaying the launch of its online site in the U.S. by nine more months? The current delay marks the second time the chain has pushed back its U.S. launch date this year.

"The online market is increasingly growing, with particularly strong growth in mobile shopping via smartphones and tablets. To accommodate this rapid development, from as early as the beginning of next year we will also offer a completely mobile adapted H&M shop online in H&M’s existing eight online markets," said Karl-Johan Persson, CEO of Hennes & Mauritz AB, in a statement.

"We have intensified preparations for the rollout of H&M shop online to other markets in the group," he added. "These investments — and as we need more time for the launch of our online shop for the US — mean that the launch of H&M shop online in the US has been moved to summer 2013."

Analysts see the launch of an H&M site as important to the company’s growth in the U.S., so the announcement of another delay was "disappointing," according to Sydbank analyst Nicolaj Jeppesen.

"It means that the competitors, and especially Inditex, really gain momentum in this long period when Inditex is online in the U.S., but H&M is not," Mr. Jeppesen told The Wall Street Journal.

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Discussion Questions

How big a deal is it that H&M is once again delaying the launch of its U.S. e-commerce site? What do you make of Karl-Johan Persson’s assertion that mobile shopping via smartphones and tablets is growing at a particularly strong clip for H&M in markets where it has a digital presence?

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John Boccuzzi, Jr.
John Boccuzzi, Jr.
11 years ago

Making sure H&M has a strong smartphone and tablet shopping solution is key. The delay is disappointing, but a poor launch would be catastrophic, in my opinion. Consumers will give you one shot online, in most cases. A bad experience and they move on, maybe never to return again.

Doug Fleener
Doug Fleener
11 years ago

In the big scheme of life, nine months isn’t a big deal. It is more important to get right than have it now. Mobile shopping for the H&M customer makes total sense. As a matter of fact it could be bigger than the typical commerce site.

I also think that part of the H&M experience is finding a great deal on something the consumer may or may not need. I think they’ll continue to do quite well moving forward.

Anne Bieler
Anne Bieler
11 years ago

For the loyal H&M shoppers, this may be disappointing, but execution is everything. Today, good news travels faster around social networks; bad news even faster. H&M has to get it right across online markets to stay in the game.

Bill Hanifin
Bill Hanifin
11 years ago

The beauty of being an analyst is that you can criticize practitioners in a business without reproach, casting doubt on their future prospects and speculating about the risk of business decisions made.

I would give H&M credit for their critical thinking and assume that they may just find ways to leapfrog their competitors by waiting a bit and launching something truly groundbreaking next year.

I just visited the Inditex site, which looks like it was designed in the early days of the internet. The Zara.com site on the other hand is a striking photo-oriented web-portfolio, but I did not see any omni-channel e-commerce capability in evidence.

Let’s honor a corporate executive’s right to think through problems to make good decisions rather than being compelled to make “fast” decisions that might be quickly regretted.

John Crossman
John Crossman
11 years ago

It’s not a big deal. Better done slow and right than fast and wrong.

Cathy Hotka
Cathy Hotka
11 years ago

I’m shaking my head over this one.

It’s almost 2013. It’s not like we’re talking about some new technology that hasn’t yet been proven, or requires highly specialized skills. Baffling.