Marketing Communication – Promotion

Comparing with H&M, or other similar companies, Zara does not spend much money on promotion. It spends 0.3 per cent of sales on advertising compared to average of 3.5 per cent of competitors. Zara thinks that the store windows and the content is the most necessary advertising for them.

All H&M’s advertisements are produced centrally at the head office in Stockholm. This means that the advertisements are largely the same in all markets, but the media mix is adapted to local needs and circumstances. The centralized, organizational structure ensures a uniform branding of H&M in all markets. This means that customers will get the same H&M experience whether they enter a store in Stockholm, Paris or Hong Kong.

Community websites

To promote H&M and its product, H&M will use video advertisements, print advertisements and the concept of e-marketing. These promotion and communication strategy will tend to meet the consumers form different places everywhere, especially those target markets or the consumers in the working place. H&M engages consistently with consumers on Facebook, You Tube and Twitter to drive traffic to its online stores as well as the physical stores which continue to be H&M’s most important channel of communication as they give customers an immediate sense of what H&M is all about. H&M uses its online media more and more to communication its activities externally.

In different industries have been tried to use the internet as their part of marking strategy. H&M may invite some famous bloggers to update the fashion blog every day, and show the latest fashion news around the world. However, they are not the reporters. The fashion news is typing by their preference. It may attract more subscribers or fans and bring more real feedback from the customers. 

On the other hand, Zara also has taken advantage of this low cost advertising. They have a Facebook, a Twitter, and a Youtube channel account. The posts are about the photos of their merchandise, look books and activities. They focus on fashion, current trend and its new products. In 2012, Zara was ranked the 18th most liked Facebook company by business insider, which is slightly more than H&M which has 11 million.

Mobile Apps

Nowadays, mobile phone become the new channel of marketing promotion. Mobile Apps may help to get close with the customers and company. The customers can easily to touch their new products when they are launched. Moreover, it can be collected the updated feedback from customers.

Zara launched an App for Iphone, Android phone and Tablet. It can be founded the Zara’s latest fashion items, as well as the contents from Zara website. In addition, customers can purchase the product through the App. In the other words, people can purchase their products wherever and whenever. 

Current strategies of H&M also are marketing to its customers through a mobile marketing campaign. For this mobile marketing strategy, customers may receive SMS coupons, some mobile banner ads will places on major portals and media sites. H&M is using Mobiento to market this strategy and its sister company Adiento, which is an ad network. H&M launched their first campaign in 2006 and is still continuing to use this channel to cover a wide range of consumers. The main goal for this marketing technique is to promote the latest seasonal trends for that particular season and to drive membership of the H&M Club.

Moreover, H&M combines the mobile marketing strategy and social media website, to hold some marketing campaigns. Customers are encouraged to use their mobile phone to photograph examples of fashion items they find and like and unload them to the H&M Facebook site. Then, the customers can review the “hunted” items and vote for it by using the “like” function in Facebook. The items with the most votes will get the H&M’s prize. At the same time, H&M has direct access to everyone who has unloaded photos and voted, they have highly targeted and engaged audience to promote the suitable products to. It is essentially for customers to tell H&M what they want and then H&M sell it to them correctly. 

Marketing Communication – Strategy

H&M and Zara, are well known reputed fashion designing and manufacturing companies in fashion industry. They are two of the world’s largest fashion retailers and engaging in fast fashion market.

Fashion product may have a shorter product life-cycle and fickle consumer preferences. And the fast fashion market is the market closest to the latest trends. The process time of products, which from design to manufacture and on sell, is shorter and products can be sold at a relative low price. Fast fashion targets the mainstream consumers who want to be able to buy the things celebrities are wearing or be able to buy into trends that may see from the catwalk as soon as possible. H&M and Zara are typically fast fashion brand.

ZARA

Zara has spread a common concept of fast fashion. New style ranges are frequently introduced in market and thus Zara is moving parallel to market trends. Zara has an efficient and continuous communication system with its customers and thus changes in markets and streets flow directly to the designers and this information is depicted to be used in next range of designs.

Such rapid and fast paced response has created competitive advantage and other companies that take six months to take a design from idea to realization form are now moving towards this continuous and consistent communication with market. The basic concept behind this strategy was to stay in contact with the customers, the real target of a company, taking their feedback and then changing the products according to the demands. Zara is successful in creating an edge for itself and dominating its competitors as no other firm can reach this level of fast delivery of inventory in store. Zara has focused customers with short term needs and the reason behind was to minimize the operating capital.

What sets Zara apart from many of its competitors is what it has done to its business information and business process. Rather than concentrating on forecasting accurately, it has developed its business around reacting swiftly. As far as finished garments are concerned, rather than forecasting, it just quickly produces the least amount possible of what is hot with consumers, and moves to the next hot style fast. With its range of clothes constantly being updated, one or two slow-selling items are unlikely to hurt profits. Customers are also more likely to visit its shops regularly to see new stock.

H&M

H&M offers two main collections each year, one in spring and one in fall. Within each season, there are several sub-collections so there are always new products in the stores.  The main collections are the traditional long-lead items, and the sub-collections are the trendier items with short lead times. It relies on understanding what their customers want and have built systems for identifying consumer preferences.

Zara may have a slightly faster lead time, but H&M uses a different strategy. Apart from the fast fashion product, some products with long-lasting and ongoing styles have not yet tried by the company and are a domain where customers are still willing to pay. There is a market segment that needs stylish fashionable clothes over a longer period of time. That is same style, with a brand name and renowned design of that particular brand. So, introducing some designs that change over a period of a year or six months and that remain available throughout the year can open a new dimension for business.

Around one quarter of their stock is made up of fast-fashion items, but they also keep a large inventory of basic, everyday items sourced from cheap overseas, mainly Asian, factories. For this reason, we feel that H&M will be more appealing to the masses in the teen and young adult segment. Some consumers might be afraid to go too fashion-forward, so those that have a more reserved style may also find something at H&M.