H&M India to expand product basket to add home decor

Swedish fast fashion brand H&M is looking enter the home decor and furnishing segment in India. H&M Home, an offshoot of the high-street fashion label, sells products such as cushion covers, blankets, curtains and accessories. Globally, H&M Home is mostly present with 362 shop-in-shops and eight standalone stores, in about 50 countries. In India H&M Home will offer decoration products and not furniture.

H&M is yet to look at retail nitty gritties for its home segment on whether to foray through a standalone format or existing stores. A bulk of sourcing for home products globally is from India and H&M will benefit in terms of sourcing, given these will be made in India and sold in India. With annual sales of Rs 1,109 crores in India, H&M is the world’s second-largest clothing firm. It stocks fast-fashion items created in-house and teams up with designers for one-time collections. It keeps a large inventory of basic, everyday items sourced from manufacturers in India and Bangladesh. These items carry lower price tags than those sold by rivals.

Rising demand for premium and high-margin home furnishing products has drawn organised players to a segment that is largely unorganized in the country. There are not many players in that category and the product range doesn’t change for years.