H&M takes Rs 1.75 crore in first day sales at first India store

By

Cajsa Lykke Carlson

Published
Oct 7, 2015

H&M, the Swedish fast fashion giant, has added India to its markets with a new store in the Select CityWalk mall in New Delhi. Insiders told The Economic Times that H&M took Rs 1.75 crore in sales on the opening day.

This is nearly double the amount that competitor Zara made on the first day in its store in the same mall, which opened five years ago. It means H&M made about Rs 27,000 every minute during the 11 hours the store was open. People queued up outside overnight to get into the new shop, which occupies 25,000 square feet.

The new shop opened on Friday and H&M CEO Karl-Johan Persson said India has "enormous potential" for his company. "The GDP growth is faster than in Europe so it is super promising today and in ten years, the potential is enormous. But it all depends on if we do well to offer something to the Indian consumers. We have been looking at India for years...but a lot of things have to be in place like getting the licences to do business here. It is a complex market compared to many other markets. So it is good that we had time to prepare."

Persson said H&M will start its recycling initiative in India. He also spoke of H&M's pricing, saying: "Our prices are extremely strong. We offer value for money for the quality and the designs you get. We want to be roughly same priced in all markets."

When asked if he was worried about the economy slowing down in China, one of H&M's biggest markets, Persson replied: "In the long term I don't think it's a concern. We have been around for almost 70 years. You see ups and downs in economies and it will be the same in India as well. Of course, we will be affected if we see a slowdown in private consumption. But we are in for the long run".