The ribbon cutting ceremony at the first H&M store at Gandaria City
H&M finally here!
October 5th was their first opening at Gandaria City, people literally went crazy over this Stockholm based fashion brand.
From basic to show collection, H&M cater fashion collection for all ages. Men, Women, to children, they can spend their money wisely on its two floor gigantic store.
From my previous trip to Stockholm with fellows journalists from Kompas, Seputar Indonesia, Jakarta Post, and Fimela, we had a chance to talk with H&M CEO, Karl-Johan Persson. It was a very interesting discussion, here are some of our questions:
CEO of H&M, Karl-Johan Persson
Can you tell us the first time you involve with H&M?
Karl-Johan Persson (KJP): I grew up with H&M, a lot of talk about H&M around the breakfast day. My father and I always really curious about H&M. So I asked him a lot of questions during weekends, summer and holidays.
I worked at the store, also I worked in logistic as well. So, I tried out a lot of different things.
Back in 1999, I worked in production and went to India, to Bangladesh, Hong Kong and China. Work at marketing and buying office in short period of time, that is why I have tried lots of different things.
Why Indonesia and why now?
KJP: Indonesia is a fantastic market , a huge market, with two hundred and forty million people approximately living there and the fashion interest is enormous, this is what we see. That’s a great opportunity and a great next step for H&M.
I hope there’s a good match between what we offer in terms of fashion, quality and good price, which is what Indonesian customers want.
So what’s your strategy in Indonesia?
KJP: Well the strategy is roughly the same in all markets, and we have the same business idea in Indonesia.
We offer wide range of fashion from ladies-wear, mens-wear, kids-wear, to very young customers. Lots of different styles with good quality products. We work on sustainability in the same way as we do it in all our market.
It’s a global thing with great prices, would be in Indonesia as well. That’s the main strategy, together with H&M culture and we employ people that fit our way of working.
H&M Ladies Collection
H&M Men Collection
H&M Kids Collection
KJP: We have the yearly expansion growth which is 10 to 15% every year, depending on the supplier and great locations. But, the most important thing from me and the company is to improve the existing business.
We always want to give back to the customers, that is why we try to maintain the efficiency in business, give customers better quality products, better prices, more fashion, nicest store environment, even more efforts and sustainability. These are what we want our customers to get.
Those are my dreams, and we try to improve everything every single day, and hopefully one day lots of people will have the opportunity to get that great H&M.
I think one of the most exciting feeling is opening store in new market, seeing the excitement, people lining up, but not only the opening effect. Seeing people lining up and really happy about the products, walking around H&M, I think that’s the great feeling.
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