H&M CEO- Who Is It?

Global fashion giant H&M has stores all over the world. Based in Stockholm, the Swedish company reported significant sales growth across 2017 and 2018. As well as capitalising on online sales, H&M opened 497 new stores in 2017 alone to increase its high street presence.

Since its founding in 1947, H&M has always been driven in its aim to offer fashion and quality at the best price. Alongside its ladies’, men’s and children’s ranges, H&M also has a home brand, H&M Home, which offers everything from bed linens and bathmats to crockery and glassware. Thanks in part to the success of its Home range, net sales rose by 12 percent to reach 4.9 billion in the last sales quarter of 2018.

In response to the rise of the ethical consumer, the fashion chain has developed an environmental strategy that goes beyond the use of sustainable materials. As well as encouraging its customers to recycle clothes through its own garment recycling scheme, H&M recently launched a ‘Conscious Exclusive’ collection which comprises high-end, environmentally friendly products. To further reduce its environmental footprint, H&M aims to make sure that all of its cotton comes from sustainable sources by 2020.

In another progressive move, January 2019 saw the release of H&M’s gender-neutral clothing line in collaboration with the Swedish designer label Eytys. The range includes boxy leather jackets, cotton sweaters, graphic tees and denim jeans.

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The Story of H&M

Following a trip to New York in 1946, Erling Persson opened his Hennes (Swedish for ‘hers’) store in the lakeside city of Västerås, Sweden. This idea had come to him after experiencing the success of women’s fashion in the post-war boom period. After the store was met with roaring success, Persson expanded into Stockholm in 1952 and had opened two stores in Sweden’s capital by 1954.

In the late 1960s, Hennes acquired the hunting apparel and fishing equipment retailer Maurtiz Widforss, and in doing so established the company’s full-length name: Hennes & Mauritz. From there, H&M embarked on an international journey of expansion with stores opening in the UK, Denmark and Switzerland.

In 1982, the company was handed down from father to son. Stefan Persson took over as CEO and oversaw a period of unprecedented expansion for the retailer. After finding a foothold in yet more European fashion capitals such as Paris, H&M broadened its focus even further. In 2000, it opened its first US store on New York’s Fifth Avenue and later entered into the Asian market, with stores opening in Shanghai and Hong Kong in 2007.

Fashion and Quality at the Best Price

H&M’s signature business strategy has always been to make high-end styles accessible to the masses. The company marked the new millennium by introducing a range designed by the German fashion icon, Karl Lagerfield. In the decade that followed, H&M would go on to decorate its shop floors with designer labels such as Versace, Alexander Wang and Stella McCartney.

The H&M Group also combines a number of labels that appeal to a diverse market of customers. These include Cheap Monday, a grunge brand that specialises in denim jeans and 1990s-style fashion, and the increasingly popular & other stories, which offers elegant womenswear. Like Next, H&M stocks a home brand which has introduced a new dimension to its business outlook.

CEO of H&M

Since 2009, Karl-Johan Persson has been H&M’s CEO. He follows in the footsteps of his grandfather and father, Erling and Stefan Persson, who have formed the backbone of the company over its 60 years of existence. Karl-Johan Persson holds over 12 million shares in H&M and has worked his way up through the company after leaving his role as CEO of European Network in 2004.

On his way to securing the top job at the company, Persson worked as Head of Expansion at H&M as well as being a member of the company’s board. Outside of H&M, he is a member of the GoodCause foundation and the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in the UK. Persson originally studied in the UK, undertaking a degree in Business Administration at the European Business School in London.

H&M CEO Salary

Persson’s salary is not publicly disclosed. However, what we do know is that he holds over 12 million shares in H&M, which earnt him over $809 million (£608 million) in dividends in 2017. The average H&M executive salary is around $208,445 (£156,901) per year, but you can expect that Persson’s salary exceeds that number. Forbes estimates his net worth to be $1.93 billion (£1.43 billion).

In return for his earnings, Persson is responsible, amongst other things, for the recruitment of senior executives, pricing strategy and expansion planning.

H&M CEO Email

Karl-Johan Persson’s email is not publicly available, but you can get in contact with H&M’s head office in Stockholm by emailing headofficemailbox@hm.com.

Does H&M Franchise?

Franchising is not a part of H&M’s general expansion strategy. The only exception is in certain international markets where the company collaborate with franchising partners for regulatory reasons. This includes Israel, where a franchised H&M store was opened in 2010. Of H&M’s 4500+ stores, 255 of them are run as franchises.

H&M franchise stores in the Middle East are also common. In 2018, the company opened franchise branches in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. In collaboration with the Chinese multinational company Alibaba, a new franchise store was opened in Tmall which stocks both H&M and H&M Home stock. As part of its localised market strategy, at launch the new Tmall store offered an exclusive range designed by the Chinese celebrity, Wang Yuan.

Looking into the future, the retailer aims to expand its network further. Though franchising is not the core driver of the H&M business model, the fashion company does plan to open a new franchise store in Egypt in 2019.