Mobile Fashion

When researching mobile marketing campaigns, I thought, who better to analyze than my favorite retail store, H&M? H&M is a clothing retailer known for its "fast fashions" for men, women and children. Basically, they offer highly fashionable clothes without the highly fashionable cost. They had two problems they were looking to solve: how do we promote our latest collections and how do we increase membership in our rewards program? H&M turned to mobile marketing agency Mobiento for the answers.

H&M's first mobile marketing campaign appeared in 2006, making it one of the first brand's to really capitalize on this technology. To borrow a term from the fashion world, it really set a trend for other brands to follow. So far, the campaigns have mostly been in H&M's home country, Sweden.



How It Works
Consumers click on a banner ad which takes them to H&M's mobile site (slightly difficult to navigate if you don't speak Swedish). They are then prompted to enter their mobile number to receive SMS alerts and mobile coupons. The purpose of the coupon is to drive them to the store's physical site (H&M does not sell clothing online). It has a time limit on it, usually 3-4 hours, so that consumers will be prompted to go to the store immediately. H&M runs competitions where consumers can create an outfit then write a short essay about why they want to win it. The winner then receives a gift card so they can go buy that outfit. They also release their catalogs via SMS so that consumers have an easier way to view it. This mobile technology also has a viral aspect to it. Consumers can pass offers and new collection alerts along to their friends via text.

A great example of how this can work is how some stores approached their grand opening in Germany. 120,000 people received a picture message prompting them to go to H&M to pick up a free t-shirt. This was so successful that within 48 hours, 78% of the recipients reacted to the message. There was a line of 100 people waiting for their t-shirts before the store even opened.



Who It's For
H&M's target market consists of young, fashion-forward men and women ranging from ages 18-30. However, this mobile campaign is mostly geared towards women ages 20-40. People that take part in this campaign are most likely going to be into fashion, into bargain shopping and mobile technology savvy. While the campaign is mostly geared towards women, there is a portal for men too. When you enter the site, you can choose your gender and the site will then be tailored to you.





Does It Work?
This is a very cool idea but the important question is, does it work? I think that this a great campaign and that it works on many levels. However, I think there are some things that could be improved as well.

The Good
Most importantly, I think that H&M really knows its consumers. Just the fact that they would approach a mobile marketing agency shows that they realize their consumers are young, hip and into new technology. Consumers that shop at H&M are into fashion and it seems that they would really appreciate being alerted when the new collections come out so that they can be the first ones to get it. H&M shoppers are also bargain shoppers. If all they cared about was fashion, they would be shopping in Louis Vuitton and Prada. However, they care about price too. This is why the mobile coupons are a great idea. Very rarely will there be a 20% off sale for the whole store. By sending consumers a 20% off coupon, it will prompt them to go to the physical location and shop 'til they drop! I think this is a great campaign and they should expand to the U.S. for young consumers like me!

The Bad
As great as this campaign seems, I feel it would be much more effective if H&M sold clothing online. Some consumers (like myself) live over an hour away from any H&M locations. If I sign up for SMS alerts and receive a coupon that expires in 3 hours, I am most likely not going to drop what I'm doing and run to the mall. If they sold the clothing online and offered the same type of coupon, I would most definitely hit the net to do some shopping. The mobile site allows you to look at the collections yet you still can't purchase the items. I'm not sure why H&M does not wish to sell their clothing online, but I think it would be a huge success.