H&M continues their dominance in the fast, affordable fashion category by announcing further expansion in Auckland with the opening of a new store in Botany Town Centre.
The store, the company’s third in the city, is set to open during Autumn 2019.
“We are excited to be able to announce our expansion into East Auckland,” said Daniel Lattemann, Country Sales Manager for H&M New Zealand. “Botany Town Centre is a great location for H&M and we look forward to presenting a truly unique shopping experience to customers in the area.”
H&M first entered the New Zealand market in 2016. Today there are four stores nationwide in three cities; Sylvia Park Shopping Centre and Commercial Bay in Auckland, The Crossing in Christchurch and Queensgate Shopping Centre in Lower Hutt.
The company’s next store, The Crossing in Tauranga, is set to open in April 2019.
H&M’s brick and mortar expansion seems to fly in the face of other retailers in New Zealand who are struggling when online rivals avoid the overhead of traditional high street sites. TopShop went into receivership in 2017 as shoppers discovered Topshop and Topman’s offerings were not what they expected and the range felt dated by several months in trend. “We felt like we’d been ripped off; yet another international fashion conglomerate had done a substandard job for the paupers Down Under,” Lucy Suckling said in a Stuff opinion piece.
Is H&M’s ability to continue to thrive in New Zealand’s competitive retail market a reflection on the fact they deliver what the local market demands? Perhaps their lack of e-commerce here ironically plays a role in their success in the online shopping age.
