Managing Information

Managing Information in Organisations

Report

Table of Contents:

I. Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 3

1. E-marketing as new competition field …………………………………………………………………………….. 3

2. H&M facts ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 3

II. HM.com as an example of great e-marketing ……………………………………………………………….... 4

1. H&M website’s development of existing business practice and channels of communication 4

2. Reasons to “buy-into” H&M online experience ……………………………………………………………….. 5

3. Organization’s user-friendliness and security concerns …………………………………………………… 6

III. Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 7

I. Introduction.

1. E-marketing as new competition field.

Nowadays different brands, companies and organisations compete with each other on different fields. It starts with the research, technologies, data management to the final strategy that is going to put them ahead of the others. “Organisations that understand their true strengths are better able to compete successfully in a rapid expanding and competitive world economy. (...) John Kay attributes corporate success to four distinctive capabilities: innovation, architecture, reputation and strategic assets, and suggests that effective blending of these four can contribute to the unique capability of an organisation” (Ambrosini, V. 1998). In current times there is one more, very important field – internet. Internet marketing brought media to a global audience. For few years now it includes management of digital customer data and electronic customer management system. Internet gave marketing a whole new meaning by opening the main doors to the whole new e-world. An example of a company, which manage to be far ahead of its competitors, thanks to not only is marketing strategy on the high street but also, thanks to very innovative and effective web-marketing, is H&M.

2. H&M facts.

H & M – Hennes and Mauritz AB (H&M) is a clothing retailer whose business concept is to offer “fashion and quality at the best price”. H&M is engaged in the design, production and retailing of clothing items and related accessories. Its product range comprises clothing, including underwear and sportswear, for men, women, children and teenagers, as well as cosmetics products and accessories. H&M opened its very first store in Sweden in 1947 and nowadays has almost 2,000 stores in 37 countries. Collection are created by an in – house design and purchasing department whose goals is to offer customers the latest fashion trends (www.hm.com). H&M is an expansive and financially strong company, their strategy is based on the principle of growth in consideration of profitability and sustained control. Over years H&M became easily recognisable, respected and wanted on high – streets all over the world. When Swedish brand launched their website, they offered their visitors something more than just an email subscription and ability to view current collections. H&M proved their leadership and provided support for its physical location.

II. HM.COM as an example of great e-marketing.

1. H&M website’s development of existing business practice and channels of communication.

H&M web site is very appealing, fresh looking and up to date with brand current trends and style. Main page design allows visitors to easily find the content they looking for. There are seven main categories: fashion, store locator, working at H&M, press, investor relations, corporate responsibility and about H&M. Content of those seven categories provides answers to all possible questions. However, only two of those categories (Inspiration and Store locator) are directed specifically towards shoppers. Remaining 5 like, “Investor relations” for example, include company’s annual reports which anyone interested can view. These cause the feeling that H&M has nothing to hide. They have a great ability to outline and describe the numerous ways in which their strategic business operations have created value for their customers and enable them to keep their prices relatively low. According to information provided company appears to be very successful and creates a strong, positive brand image.

H&M can be categorised as a Clicks and Mortar company in that it has numerous physical store locations but also offers customers the ability to view and (in certain countries: Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden) purchase merchandise via their websites and catalogues. [http://ivythesis.typepad.com/term_paper_topics/2008/02/hm.html] The purpose for allowing e-commerce to these countries is to expand the store’s customer base to people who wouldn’t be able to easily visit one of the physical stores. This advantage in some countries is one of the biggest disadvantages in the other. Once you click on “Fashion Studio” category, you are able to view different pieces of collection together with prices. Unfortunately, if you are not the resident of countries mention above you can’t purchase anything. However, visitors can use Virtual Dressing room where they can customize a model and create an outfit. This creates a very specific shopping experience, where customers can virtually try on different garments and actually see if they fit. All they have to do is pick a model that exacts their body – type specification. It takes some time, but it is definitely more fun than work. Moreover, for those who need friend’s opinion, H&M has it covered. Once you find the outfit you like they will email it to whomever you like. On the one hand, “Virtual Dressing” experience is really exciting and appealing; H&M high street stores are busy most of the time, so it takes quite a while to find what you want and then queue to be able to try it on. Virtual dressing room saves you that time and energy, but on the other hand, the whole experience it’s very convincing, so the next thing you want to do is purchase a certain garment, but then again, if you are not in any of the country listed above, you can’t. This leaves H&M website visitors with unclear message. Most of the information provided on the website is very useful for someone who wants to find out more about H&M. People looking for detailed fashion news will be more than happy to find variety of “Fashion Videos” which are short (approx. 2min) clips of the most recent events in fashion industry. Information that H&M provides are not only interesting but also unique comparing to their competitors. H&M goes an extra mile by giving their customers latest trends and insights which they frequently update. Another feature that works very well, and add a great value to the website is “Style Guide”, it’s an individual product description with outfit suggestions, high quality invisible mannequin images with 360 degrees rotate, behind -the - scenes photo shoot video’s and fashion tips.

2. Reasons to “buy – into” H&M online experience.

H&M website is a great example of an effective e-marketing, because their aesthetic appeal and interactivity options create pure fun experience for its users. It also gives a sense of credibility by providing access to their corporate information and annual reports. The fact that company wants to share those sort of information helps the potential customer to “buy –in” to their website. H&M is famous for doing collaborations with different high –profile designers and celebrities like Madonna, Karl Lagerfeld, Jimmy Choo or most recent Sonia Rykiel. Every time this limited-edition collection has its premiere in H&M high-street store it takes few minutes for most of the garments to be sold out. H&M website provides all its fans with detailed information about the up- coming designer and its collection. Potential customers can view most of the designs and find out which stores are going to sell them. This and many other features listed above make people want to came back, in many cases check this web site on the weekly or monthly basis which is a great achievement for a high – street brand. H&M fashion is targeted at young audience who likes anything that is innovative, fresh and up-to-date. That is why website that supposes to be visited by them must have at least those three features. Young consumers love a bit of interactions, especially when shopping, and not many online fashion sites provide that. Site serves different purposes for different regions, creates a unique shopping experience (in some countries) and provides useful and updated content in clear and intuitive layout. Interactive options are appealing to users and do a good job at motivating actions.

3. Organization’s user-friendliness and security concerns.

H&M website is well organised, interesting and reduce the risk associated with buying online, while the fun-factor of shopping is preserved. The site is fairly user friendly. For potential customers visiting this site for the first time different options are clearly presented and easy to navigate. People concern about collection and use of personal information can easily find the company’s policy on that matter. According to H&M’s website policy H&M Wholesale is committed to protect your privacy and develop technology that will give you the most powerful and safe online experience. H&M Wholesale does not sale, rent or lease its customer lists to third parties. They collect personally identifiable information such as e-mail address, name, home or work address as well as anonymous demographic information, which are not unique to specific person, like age, gender, preferences or favourites. One of the most user-friendly features H&M website provides is the use of “Cookies”. Cookies help to personalize your online experience and save you time. What it does, it helps H&M Wholesale’s pages to recall your specific information on subsequent visit, so when you come back to the website the information you previously provided can be retrieved. You have the ability to accept or refuse cookies. There is one little thing that H&M should consider in order to keep their website even more user friendly. H&M website experience depends on the connection speed visitors have. One your connection slows down the whole experience is not worth having. You will still be able to read “about H&M” or their “Legal notice”, but forget about any interactive features.

III. Conclusion.

With pretty much every high street brand having their own transactional website H&M have been behind the trend for quite a while now. 2,000 shops in 37 different countries might suggest that people won’t necessary visit their website to shop, but H&M thought about it and prepared for their online visitors something totally different. Visiting H&M website is like enjoyable and interactive fashion experience without high street crowd.

Bibliography.

• Ambrosini, V. (1998) Exploring techniques of analysis and evaluation in strategic management (London: Prentice Hall Europe)

• Chaffey, D. (2000) Internet Marketing: strategy, implementation and practice (Harlow: Financial Times Prentice Hall)

• Davis, J. (2000) A guide to web marketing: successful promotion on the net (London: Kogan Page)

• Orna, E. (1995) Managing information for research (England: Open University Press)

✓ [http://www.hm.com/gb/#/startns/] Accessed: 11 March 2010

✓ [http://emygourdet.wordpress.com/] Accessed: 11 March 2010

✓ [http://emarketingassociation.ning.com/profiles/blogs/hampm-online-marketing-audit] Accessed: 12 March 2010

✓ [http://ivythesis.typepad.com/term_paper_topics/2008/02/hm.html] Accessed: 12 March 2010

✓ [http://www.brandchannel.com/features_profile.asp?pr_id=51] Accessed: 12 March 2010