Both Inditex and H&M Group have multiple fascias, but does this make sound business sense?

Cos, Arket, & other stories, H&M, Monki, Weekday, Cheap Monday and on and on.

Well, actually there are a mere seven H&M fascias currently and, chatting to the chief executive of a rival retailer on Friday, a very pertinent question was posed: “Do you see much difference between Arket and Cos?”

The question was rhetorical, with the supplied answer being: “They’re both pretty minimalist and unflashy.”

“In the case of Arket and Cos, the powers that be in Stockholm will doubtless be quick to affirm that they are entirely different in terms of target market, collection and presentation, but in truth the similarities are probably rather greater than the differences”

At a stroke, one of the problems of multiple fascias had been nailed. There are only so many ways that a retailer can ring the changes as they seek to create difference by offering shoppers alternative interiors and merchandise ‘attitudes’.

In the case of Arket and Cos, the powers that be in Stockholm will doubtless be quick to affirm that they are entirely different in terms of target market, collection and presentation, but in truth the similarities are probably rather greater than the differences.

Couple this with the fact that both Inditex and H&M Group fascias are like the proverbial 98 bus. You wait for ages… well, you know the rest.

Core brands

Visit any large city these days and it’s a fair bet that there will be an H&M Highway and an Inditex Avenue, with most of these retailers’ fascias being represented in a long strip.

This is particularly the case in the large shopping centres, where the bargaining power of the biggest players means that they dominate the view.

Yet the point has to be made that in both instances it is the core H&M and Zara brands that are the moneymakers and the rest are big-city icing.

To an extent this makes sense for a mid-market player. Go large with the main proposition, and where money is likely to be found, in the metropolises, throw in a Massimo Dutti or perhaps a Cos.

“Primark certainly represents the value end of the equation, but it has concentrated on doing what it does well, rather than any kind of retail Balkanisation”

But what about Stradivarius, Arket, Bershka or Pull & Bear?

These are also-rans, and as H&M’s profit founders it is hard not to wonder whether eggs kept in a single basket with corresponding levels of investment might not be a more productive route than adding yet another name to the brand stable when Afound flings wide its doors later this year.

Primark certainly represents the value end of the equation, but it has concentrated on doing what it does well, rather than any kind of retail Balkanisation.

Or might it just be that at the heart of H&M woes is an organisation that bought the wrong stuff over the past couple of seasons?