Portfolio 6 month marketing plan Pull and bear | Page 9

2.1.2 Competitor analysis
The Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) Group
The brand H&M was founded in Sweden 1947, it consists of six
separate brands including H&M, COS, Weekday, Cheap Monday,
Monki and Other Stories.
H&M has around 253 stores across the UK, 476 within the United States
and 161 stores in Spain. Whereas Pull&Bear has 8 stores in the UK, and
243 stores in Spain. They do not have stores in the US.
The company has 20 large shareholders worldwide, the brand
continues to expand and open more stores, in their 2016
financial report they produced 51 billion in combined business
sales worldwide which is a 9% increase from the previous year.
Three-month report (H&M Group, 2017).
Strengths
The brand plans to grow at a fast pace both through stores and
online, they are working vigorously to break into new markets.
For spring they plan to carry out many more store openings in
places such as, India, Hungary and a new flagship store in South
Africa.
Weaknesses
H&M has a poor history record of unethical labour practices
especially in Bangladesh. Fans of the brand still question how
‘eco’ the brand really is despite the intense efforts made to
promote the brand as a sustainable company.
H& M has a more defined presence and notoriety when it
comes to PR, Press and media. Their sustainability strategy is
also predominantly more successful in terms of raising
awareness; action plans and promotion.
Zara is also considered a competitor of Pull&Bear although
Zara is in the same company as Inditex it is harder to make
an accurate
analysis.