Dive Brief:
- Deepening its resale presence, H&M unveiled a new store concept in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood featuring a secondhand shop-in-shop, the fast-fashion giant announced Monday. The store is the first in North America to offer the “Pre-Loved” shop-in-shop experience.
- To kick off the store opening, H&M tapped New York-based vintage fashion seller James Veloria to curate select clothing and accessories for the secondhand assortment, starting Wednesday. H&M launched its Pre-Loved resale service online nearly a year ago, in collaboration with ThredUp.
- H&M’s SoHo store also includes several tech features, including the ability to check out on mobile from anywhere in the store, RFID-enabled systems to track inventory and in-store pickup lockers for online orders. Smart mirrors in the fitting rooms can spot products and provide personalized recommendations, as well as request more products from sales associates.
Dive Insight:
H&M’s new store concept brings resale into focus.The company’s in-house architecture team designed the nearly 10,000-square-foot store as an homage to SoHo’s art galleries. The retailer also curated the store’s women’s selection with the neighborhood in mind, according to the announcement.
“This new location marks our return to SoHo, a neighborhood which continues to be an epicenter of fashion and style,” Carlos Duarte, president of H&M Americas, said in a statement. “We’ve been testing new store concepts in NYC, such as our recent H&M Williamsburg store experience, with the aim of building the best, elevated shopping experience for our customers.”
H&M’s new SoHo store is larger than the company’s 7,000-square-foot Williamsburg, Brooklyn, location, which opened in 2022. Where the SoHo store emphasizes H&M’s secondhand offerings, the Williamsburg location is a rotating shopping experience that features in-store events centered on music, fashion, art, and local personalities and businesses. For example, the Williamsburg store a year ago was transformed into a “kinetic, tactile playground” where shoppers could take yoga, dance, pilates and other fitness classes in an effort to promote the company’s H&M Move activewear brand.
H&M’s SoHo store is also focused on convenience, with in-store pickup lockers for online orders. E-commerce purchases have become something of a pain point for H&M, which recently reshaped its returns policy for digital orders. Last September, the company expanded a policy that charges customers for online returns to the U.S. and “a selection” of countries mostly in Europe. U.S. customers, except loyalty members, must pay $5.99 to cover return shipping, while non-loyalty members in the U.K. are required to pay 1.99 pounds for returns.
As H&M adds to its physical store count and modifies its e-commerce operations, the fast-fashion retailer has also changed its leadership. Last month, former H&M Group CEO Helena Helmersson exited the company after four years in the top spot, ending her 26-year tenure at the retailer. Daniel Ervér, who has been with H&M for 18 years, now serves as CEO.
