Sales of Swedish fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz’s (H&M) in India grew 95.5% for the year ended November 2017 to Rs 956.24 crore, according to the company’s annual report released on Wednesday. This growth was propelled by rapid expansion of stores – from 10 to 27 during the year – and strong volume growth. Volumes were fuelled by an aggressive strategy of pricing merchandise markedly lower than peers. After its success with brick & mortar stores in India, H&M plans to enter the Indian online market in 2018. H&M, the world’s second-largest apparel major, which follows the December 1 to November 30 financial year, however, reported a less impressive 24.4% increase in its Q4 (September-November quarter) sales to Rs 247.36 crore. Growth in Q4 2017 was sharply lower than the 50% plus growth recorded in preceding quarters.
Rajat Wahi, partner, Deloitte, said: “There maybe some impact of the GST on sales in Q4FY17. Almost all brands took some time to settle down post the implementation. Also, competition is getting stiff not only from foreign brands but also from Indian brands, who are aggressively increasing advertisement spends to boost sales.”