The company’s officials did not answer ZF’s request for information on the new brand.
H&M has seven brands in its portfolio.
Launched on the market in 2007, Cos brand is the second most important for the group by the number of units and comprises 100 stores on 23 markets worldwide. As a matter of fact, Romania is the second market of Central and Eastern Europe where the brand is being launched, after Poland.
The Swedish group chose to bring a second brand in Romania after H&M generated revenue of above EUR86 million domestically in 2013, the second complete operational year, being the brand with the highest revenue in Romania’s fashion field.
At group level, Inditex, the owner of Zara, is the largest player in Romania, with revenue of over EUR175 million. The Spanish group has seven of its brands on the domestic market and is talks to bring the eighth.
Inditex entered Romania in 2004 in a franchise system with two brands and 3 years later, owing to its solid figures, it entered directly and gradually brought other brands as well. H&M is likely to try a similar model.
Massimo Dutti, Inditex’ brand, operates on the same price segment as Cos.
In the past decade, Romania’s fashion market has attracted tens of brands, led by Zara and H&M, which opened hundreds of stores to gain a rising slice of the RON60-65 Romanians spend monthly on apparel and footwear.
However, there is still room for new brands as Romanians’ income is set to rise in the coming years, whetting their appetite for fashion.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)