There's no way the gigantic white wood partition that stretches along the first and second floors of Siam Paragon can be invisible to onlookers and frequent visitors to the shopping and entertainment complex. Bearing the omnipresent italicised red logo, and an advertisement focusing on a price range on par with budget garments at any Bangkok outlet, the world of fast fashion that resides within the white partition symbolises a dream of shoppers, and also a potential threat to many retail chains and designers, both local and international.
H&M is coming to town, and like all its fast fashion predecessors that landed in the Thai market earlier, Zara in 2006 and Uniqlo last year, it's likely to create a similar, or even greater buzz with its public opening on Sept 29.
That's not unexpected. The H&M Thailand chain, managed through a franchise arrangement with Hthai (Thailand) Co Ltd, has been causing quite a stir since its conception. The retail giant's first foray into the Kingdom sees it occupying two floors, totalling 3,300m2 _ the one and only duplex at the shopping centre _ and it's a huge headache to the Siam Paragon team who had to request a number of automobile marques and fashion luxury houses (Bentley and Balenciaga, that is) to move to accommodate the mass fashion chain.
Thailand is one of three destinations H&M is expanding into this month, the others being Latvia and Malaysia.
"We are present in 44 countries and we're opening in five more countries this year, and plan to open a lot next year as well," said Karl-Johan Persson, CEO of H&M, during an exclusive interview with Life at H&M's headquarters in Stockholm recently.
"We're taking it step by step but still see that we can manage it at a fast pace. The most important thing for us is that we have to do it with an eye on quality. We have to recruit the right people that fit into the H&M culture and find the right business location."
As opposed to its arch-rival Zara, whose business strategy focuses mainly on in-store marketing, H&M prefers to do it under the media spotlight. Leading up to its opening in every location are at least two press trips _ the first at least three months prior to opening, and the second a month before the inauguration during which members of the media spend two days at its Stockholm headquarters learning all aspects of the company _ business, design and organisation culture to corporate social responsibility.
Karl-Johan Persson, CEO of H&M.
Founded in 1947 as Hennes, the Swedish word for "hers", in the town of Vasteras by Erling Persson, grandfather of the current CEO, the company moved to Stockholm in 1968. Guided by the philosophy "fashion and quality at the best price", the family business has today grown into global empire with almost 2,600 stores spread across 44 markets. The H&M Group includes H&M and H&M Home as well as COS, Monki, Weekday and Cheap Monday.
Last year, it opened 266 new stores and its profits after tax totalled approximately 1.9 billion, only slightly lower than Inditex, the parent company of Zara.
Although you couldn't say H&M's formula for success differs much from other mass retail giants, H&M ensures its customer-centric strategy is carved right into its personnel at all levels. Despite a huge team of nearly 150 designers, its current head Ann-Sofie Johansson's background is in the store where she used to work closely with customers.
"The idea of fashion and quality at best price is our mantra, and I just want to say that whether you work as a designer or are a buyer you always have that business idea and customer service in mind," she said.
"Without customers, we are nothing. They are our bosses. We have to constantly ask ourselves what they want from us; how they want to dress for the coming season and their needs. We also talk about personal style, we want our customers to dress to their personality. Fashion isn't dictated from the catwalk anymore, which makes it more fun, more liberating."
The same conviction is echoed by Andreas Lowenstam, manager of menswear division, whose lack of design background is balanced out by his attention to street style culture and interest in vintage fashion.
''I came from a business background so for me it's more about commercial trends. If I had worked in design from an early age I'd feel the need, the desire to express my inner feelings,'' he said.
''I always need someone to do the pattern for me and I'm the one coming up with creative ideas.''
The customer-centric strategy has been H&M's strength, allowing the brand to enjoy massive growth, especially since the 1990s as globalisation and the mass media have given fashion consumers worldwide access to the latest runway shows.
The awareness of the goings-on in high-fashion catwalks has prompted fashion followers to stay tuned to coming trends and subsequently strive to find affordable fashion items that enable them to stay ''in trends''.
However, the new millennium ushered in the era of designers, and H&M foresaw a gap in the market _ between those who want and those capable of purchasing, something more than just the offerings inspired by runway trends. In 2004, the brand launched its influential designer collaboration with Karl Lagerfeld, which kick-started a series of massive queues and heavily marked-up eBay prices, which has been a hallmark of all H&M's collaborations since.
''Back then we were a bit tired, especially in the marketing department with underwear campaigns with celebrities being the same every year,'' said Margaret van den Bosch, H&M's creative adviser and former head of the design team. ''We thought we wanted to invent something different and some came to us with the idea of doing a designer collaboration and I just liked it. It's something that is created together _ PR, design and marketing. Our marketing director knew Karl Lagerfeld so it was easy to ask him if he was interested so he said yes.
''When we started it, we thought it may be something we'd do for three years, but it's such a huge success so now we've been having it every year.''
The H&M collaborations in the past eight years include a diverse list, from top designers like Stella McCartney, Jimmy Choo, Viktor&Rolf, Comme des Garcons, Lanvin, Versace, Marni and the upcoming Maison Martin Margiela, to celebrities such as Madonna, Kylie Minogue and most recently, fashion icon Anna dello Russo.
The brand not only ensures fashion enthusiasts get ample choice by trying to recruit designers who have different styles from one season to another _ moving away from the uber-glamour of Versace to the quirky sensibility of Marni, and down a completely different path of the conceptual avant-garde of Margiela, for example _ it also makes sure that the production number is very limited to preserve the exclusivity of designer's creations.
''The customers should be happy to have that piece, you know. It should not be like [something] everybody can buy. It's a bit high in price and it costs a lot more.
''I guess there are many reasons why it's limited edition. It should give off a feeling that it's something special.''
Yet again, despite its proven success in over 40 countries, H&M will have to face a few challenges in the Asian market in general, and Southeast Asia in particular, that could hinder the kind of achievement it has enjoyed in other regions _ the SEA region boasts a huge supply chain that enables it to produce clothes locally at low cost, while there is also the threat from the counterfeit industry.
''We have a huge respect for local markets and also Thailand as well but we're present in other countries in Asia where that threat exists, and we're doing well. We're also doing well in China,'' said Persson.
''So we have a strong belief that we offer something that's different from what exists today in terms of fashion, quality and price, and store experience. As for fake goods, we'll have to do our thing and let's see how it goes.''
