The emergence of Zara and H&M in Vietnam is heating up the competition among local fashion brands and garment manufacturers, exacerbating the battles in prices, designs, and the international feature.

Zara store in Ho Chi Minh City

As confirmed by the brand, H&M Vietnam will introduce the first store in Hanoi on Saturday, November 11, following the brand’s debut in Ho Chi Minh City two months ago.

Situated in Vincom Mega Mall Royal City Hanoi, the store will showcase the latest menswear, women’s clothing, footwear, undergarment, and accessories product lines, including the H&M Autumn/Winter 2017 womenswear collection.

The second store in the capitol is planned to target the same market segment of affordable fashion as the first one in Ho Chi Minh City.

The brand’s spokesperson shared with newswire Vnexpress that H&M is in search of new locations for new store openings, without disclosing any further leads on the business plan.

To boot, the brand promises to launch new designs at reasonable prices, which is likely a business strategy to compete with Zara’s store in the same mall.

Fredrik Famm, H&M’s country manager for Southeast Asia, said that the fashion brand was off for a great start at the debut in Ho Chi Minh City and is counting down to the opening in the capital.

Fredrik also noted that H&M planned to deliver unique shopping experiences to fashionistas in Hanoi as well as customers supporting the brand by purchasing H&M products from overseas.

H&M’s first store was opened in on September 9, 2017, situated in Vincom Dong Khoi, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, a two-storey 2,200-square-metre flagship.

According to the brand’s representative, the debut witnessed a record number of 4,000 customers queuing up for the opening and a total of 10,000 customers visiting on the opening day.

With two stores in the two metropolitan cities, Vietnam is H&M’s sixty-eighth market and the fourth in the Southeast Asia.

As shared by H&M’s spokesperson, the brand spent two years on researching the Vietnamese market. Key factors, such as fast-paced economy, an exponential number of fashion-conscious consumers with distinctive taste, and a surging density of shopping malls.

Before stepping in the retail business, H&M was also involved in the Vietnamese textile and garment industry since 2011. To date, H&M has partnered up with roughly 30 suppliers and over 40 factories who mainly provide processed commodities such as footwear, accessories, and knitwear for the brand.

Other widely-known fashion brands, such as Zara and Topshop, have also recently penetrated the affordable fashion segment in Vietnam, with Topshop opening four stores and Zara two.

Zara’s second store is scheduled to launch in Vincom Ba Trieu, Hanoi, on November 9, two days before H&M launched its second store.

VIR