(Paris) There are those who lower the curtain and those who continue to open gigantic spaces: ready-to-wear brands are not all in dire straits in France, as evidenced by the success of brands like Primark, Zara and H&M.
In this Parisian H&M, a group of girlfriends, executives on a lunch break and also tourists on the prowl liven up the six renovated floors of the Haussmann-style building.
Etienne, 17, comes out laughing with two friends and pink shorts for his acrosport competition on the “Barbie” theme. He justifies to AFP: “There’s everything in there, it’s easy.”
Her friend Salma admits to looking for “not very expensive clothes” while Iris d’Assonville, a 33-year-old HR manager in Toulouse, goes there because “there is choice and space”.
For many reasons, customers still flock there while the Minelli, San Marina, Gap France, Naf Naf and other Kookaï who prospered alongside them have suffered the crisis head-on, and have not all recovered from it. .
Today, customers “expect more than a product, they want an experience”, explains to AFP the general director of France, Belgium and Luxembourg of H & M Pär Lindbäck.
If the fast fashion is “stigmatized” for its environmental impacts, “initially, the idea is to multiply the number of collections to liven up the store and arouse desire”, underlines Gildas Minvielle, director of the economic observatory of the Institute French Fashion (IFM).
“Those who win are those who are capable of bringing ever more new products (…) with ever easier purchasing methods,” adds Pierre-François Marteau, fashion and luxury expert at Boston Consulting Group.
Automatic checkouts, digital tools allowing stock availability to be checked in real time, “click and take away”: everything is designed to make the purchase “fluid and quick”, lists Sophia Hammoudia, HR Director for France at H & M in front of the “embroidery and repairs” area.
Location Strategy
These brands did not oppose online and in-store sales but ensured “continuity” between the two by using the site and the application to attract the customer to the store, adds Mr. Marteau.
For Ludivine Graveline, saleswoman at H & M, customers are attracted by the multiplicity of services (embroidery, repairs, etc.) and products (home, beauty, children, etc.) available in store.
And it works: if the Swedish giant opened its first store in France in 1998, it now has 169 in the national territory, which was its 4e global market in 2023, and employs 5,400 people. This Tuesday he is inaugurating a space at Westfield Parly 2, a huge shopping center in Yvelines.
The store is far from being dead: today, “most of the commercial activity” is still done “in-store”, assures Gildas Minvielle.
Online sales represent only 30% of turnover at H&M, 25% at Zara, the two brands reveal. And 0% at Primark which only sells in stores.
One of the key parameters is location, says Primark, an Irish brand which employs 7,000 people in France.
PHOTO PETER NICHOLLS, REUTERS
Especially in a context of declining attendance. Nearly 60% of the brands surveyed by the IFM believe that it is “in decline” since the start of 2024 (compared to 2023).
Primark, which currently has 27 stores in France, focuses on accessibility (public transport or car) and capitalizes on “large, pleasant areas (between 2500 and 4000 m² minimum)”.
Inditex (parent company of Zara) too, with “airy and extensive” spaces that it “expands”, “renovates” and “improves” constantly, declares to AFP the group which employs nearly 11,000 people in France .
These players were able to “concentrate on large areas in large cities” rather than multiplying “small areas in small towns”, explains Pierre-François Marteau.
What plays the main role is the “price factor”, which remains predetermining in the act of purchasing, recalls Mr. Minvielle. Today, the entry level represents 70% of the weight of French fashion purchases, says Kantar.
reference: www.lapresse.ca