H&M doubles eCommerce sales share

The coronavirus pandemic triggered a boom in eCommerce which resulted in a remarkable shift in retail sales from offline to online in many areas. On the one hand, online sales exploded in the course of the pandemic for retailers from different fields, from Spanish fashion brand Zara over U.S. hypermarket giant Walmart to niche players like luxury or wine retailers. On the other hand, many suffered from a sharp decline in sales from the brick-and-mortar business. Those counting on both offline and online channels were lucky enough to compensate parts of their loss in offline sales with a surging eCommerce demand. When looking at the overall picture, Statista Digital Market Outlook data proves that the growth in importance of eCommerce sales in total retail sales has significantly accelerated since COVID-19 struck: Between 2019 and 2021, the online share in global retail sales increased by more than four percentage points to 17% in 2021. A company which clearly reflects this trend is Swedish fast-fashion giant H&M:

Although H&M registered sharp overall sales losses of -20% in the first corona year 2020, the fall was cushioned by a surge in eCommerce sales. In 2020, H&M registered total eCommerce net sales of SEK53 billion, which corresponds to a year-on-year growth of 39% in online sales or a share of eCommerce in overall sales of 28%. In 2021, H&M was able to continue on this track by increasing online net sales by another 21% year-on-year to a total of SEK64 billion, while overall H&M sales increased by only 6%. As a result, eCommerce net sales contributed a share of 32% to overall H&M sales in 2021. H&M’s strongest URL is hm.com, which generates the bulk of its net sales in Germany. Between 2019 and 2021, hm.com grew its net sales from SEK33 billion to SEK54 billion and currently contributes around 85% to H&M’s eCommerce sales. According to the company, there is no end to this development in sight. H&M has thus set itself ambitious goals: By 2030, the fashion retailer plans to double overall sales compared to 2021, counting more than ever on a strong eCommerce business.

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February 2022