Swedish retail giant H&M opens 18th Philippines Store in Centrio

Swedish retail giant H&M Hennes and Mauritz, Inc. has opened its 18th store in the Philippines at Ayala Centrio Mall in Cagayan de Oro City.

Over a thousand excited shoppers queued as early as the day before to be the first to see only its second store in Mindanao after Davao.

H&M Cagayan de Oro has more or less 1,500 square meters of store space and opens regularly from 10am-9pm.

It carries a full assortment of H&M products including ladies, men’s, kids, shoes, accessories and lingerie, and also has complete sports, denim and underwear departments for both men and ladies.

Alert environment-conscious shoppers will find an array of Conscious and sustainably-produced products, and will be delighted to avail of the option to donate used clothes for a discount voucher they can use for their next purchase under H& M’s Garment Collecting Program..

Fredrik Famm, H&M Country Manager for South East Asia, sees a lot of potential in his assigned region, especially the Philippines.

“By the end of the year we will have around 20 stores in the Philippines,” Famm said an exclusive media interview prior to the 27 October Centrio store opening. “We have big plans for the coming years given the country’s growing population, growing middle class, growing disposable income, and growing fashion interest.”

“We’ve been in the Philippines for exactly two years since October 2014,” he said. “It’s been an amazing journey, we’ve been very well received, so we now have 18 stores in the country, it’s been a very quick expansion, and Filipino customers have embraced us in an amazing way.”

The country’s robust economy has obviously been the driver for the store’s fast expansion.

“We see a lot of potential in the Philippines, there is a lot of fashion interest, we see that segment is growing very quickly, and we see we have something to offer that is not yet fully present in the market,” Famm said. “We offer fashion, quality and price, and our products are made in a sustainable way. We think we can manage this mix better than most of our competitors.”

H&M has sold out collections and there have been long queues whenever they open a new store. Apparently, fashion conscious Pinoys who’ve been abroad have been delighted to find the same merchandise at the same prices in H&M’s Philippine stores.

“The fashion you see in Cagayan de Oro is the same that you can see in London, Paris, New York,” Famm stressed. We believe fashion is global and everything travels fast these days via internet and social media. We want customers to have the same experience when they enter our store in Cagayan de Oro as what they experience when they enter a store in Europe or US.”

Thus, the chain has experienced sold out collections and long lines whenever they have opened a new store in the Philippines.

“We want Cagayan de Oro customers to be able to find the same fashion in bigger cities in Europe and the US. We have the same collections everywhere and we build our stores the same way,” he added.

Providing fashion for every age group at affordable prices has endeared the store to fashion conscious Pinoys eager to make their own individual fashion statements.

“We believe customers are looking for the same fashion all over the world. Looking at the diversity that we have, everyone must be able to dress their own personality,” Famm said.

“Every day you have new fashion arriving in the store, and that’s what makes us extremely competitive.  We want customers to find something new every time they visit us so customers should be able to come back every week and find something interesting.”

Pinoy shoppers who’ve shopped in H&M stores all over the world will be further delighted to know they’re paying the same prices for the same merchandise they’ve been buying aboard.

“We aim to have the same prices all over the world except for local differences due to customs duties, taxes, logistics, or exchange rates, but more or less we have the same price levels especially within the Philippines,” Famm assures.