Hennes & Mauritz is gearing up to launch its new beauty concept this fall.
H&M Beauty, with more than 700 products – including makeup, accessories, skin care, bath and body products and hair care – is due to be rolled out to the retailer’s more than 900 stores worldwide. It will also be available online through hm.com.
Each season, new limited-edition products will be introduced along the lines of the company’s popular limited-time designer collaborations.
H&M Beauty will offer two ranges. There will be one with premium positioning for those who covet the designer launches, which have featured everyone from Comme des Garçons to Isabel Marant.
H&M will introduce a designer collaboration in November, but has managed to keep the identity of the designer or entity it will partner with under wraps. The retailer’s last designer hookup was with Alexander Wang in 2014.
The other beauty range, called Conscious, is an organic line certified by Ecocert. It dovetails nicely with H&M’s long-standing interest in the environment. The retailer offers a Conscious Exclusive apparel collection made with natural or organic fibers. Last month, it bowed in 200 stores worldwide.
H&M Beauty will take center stage at H&M’s biggest store in the world, a 63,000-square-foot flagship opening in Herald Square next week. The new beauty concept, like the flagship, is pumped way up.
The expanded beauty offering comes as H&M eyes growth on multiple fronts. The Herald Square flagship will have a larger footwear offering with the largest shoe department of any U.S. store. The 450-square-foot men’s shoe department and 2,000-square-foot women’s area will have their own stockrooms, lounge cushions and newly designed interiors.
The company also is stepping up expansion in the U.S., including perhaps opening stand-alone stores for its Cheap Mondays denim concept.
Last month, Hennes & Mauritz AB said total sales in local currencies rose 10 percent in March, a slowdown from previous months.
Sales had risen 15 percent in February and 14 percent in January. Total sales include value-added taxes. H&M noted its store count came to 3,580 as of March 31 versus 3,216 on the same date in 2014.