Operations Strategy

Almost from the start, H&M’s corporate strategy has been one of international growth. After initial expansion within Sweden, then Norway (1964), the first store outside Scandinavia was opened in London in 1976. The 1980s saw its entry into Germany and the Netherlands, followed by France and other European countries in the 1990s. The first US store opened on Fifth Avenue in New York in 2000. Since then, H&M has gone truly global, with nearly 4,000 stores in over 60 countries. Further expansion is planned with the ambitious growth target of increasing the number of stores by 10–15 per cent per year. While most of this expansion is targeted at existing markets, it is also planning to enter new countries as diverse as New Zealand, Cyprus and Puerto Rico. H&M was an early entrant into the online retail environment, opening its first online store in 1998. H&M online