Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "H&M: Designer Collaborations" report to their offering. In 2004, H&M started collaborating with designers for its collections as a strategy to maintain the growth previously experienced by the company. Nine collaborations later, this case study critically assesses the impact of this strategy upon H&M's financial success and provides a series of best practice strategies.

Lanvin for H&M logo

Scope of this research

* An assessment of the H&M collaborations with Lagerfeld, McCartney, Viktor & Rolf, Cavalli, Marimekko, Comme des Garons, Williamson, Choo and Rykiel.
* Insight into the product ranges, pricing, promotions, in-store merchandising and distribution strategies used for H&M's individual collaborations.
* An independent view of collaboration success factors including the choice of partner, distribution arrangements, pricing and the size of the range.

Research and analysis highlights

Designers had a variety of different strategic motivations for collaborating with H&M. Some were seeking wider global publicity and for Stella McCartney the collaboration provided the opportunity to spread her ethical views to a wide consumer audience and resulted in H&M substantially exceeding its commitment to using organic cotton.

For the 'Karl Lagerfeld for H&M' launch the retailer encouraged the formation of long queues by providing breakfast and a limited edition Karl Lagerfeld t-shirt to the first 200 people queuing before each store opened. The same t-shirts were worn by staff and available for purchase. Products were approximately 15% of the price of standard designs.

Retailers targeting the 'masstige' market through designer collaborations should ensure they deliver a sense of exclusivity and luxury to their customers. This can be done by limiting the size of the collaborations range, the number of stores it is available at, the store merchandising and by smaller initiatives such as superior shopping bags.

Key reasons to purchase this research

* Decide if collaborations are suitable for your business by uncovering the strengths and weaknesses of famous examples from across the globe.
* Ensure that your collaboration marketing, including pricing and promotions, is aligned with industry best practice.
* Whether you are a designer or a retailer, select the best partner for your collaboration by uncovering some of the features of a successful strategy.

Please visit Research and Markets for the full report