H&M Group Expects To Open Business To 34 Markets By The End Of This Year.

H&M, the world's second largest apparel retailer, is expanding its network and physical stores at a record rate. It is expected that the two retail spaces will complement each other rather than compete.

Karl-Johan Persson, chief executive of H&M group, said sales in the first quarter were slightly below the plan, but should be seen as a strong start in 2016.

To Reuters news,

The loss of the exchange rate has led to a 30% decline in the first quarter of the fiscal year. The company plans to open more traditional stores in the city center and even around the world, because it is still profitable.

At the same time, Karl-Johan Persson points out that the group is steadily expanding its electricity supplier in more countries, because the profit outlook for this business is considerable.

H&M group CEO revealed that, despite the company's past

Relatively slow, but now has caught up with competitors.

He said: "now the expansion of the group is in line with the speed of the market. It is hoped that both the electricity supplier and the entity store can grow at the same time to achieve mutual complementarity between the two businesses, such as allowing customers to apply for returns online, and then complete the return process in the nearby physical stores.

He stressed: "the boundaries of online and offline will be blurred."

However, Karl-Johan Persson emphasizes that H&M group will increase the flexibility of store leasing and adjust the store when consumers are completely turning to the network.

At the end of last month, H&M group has opened online stores in 7 countries outside Europe, including Ireland and Croatia.

H&M group said it will launch its electricity supplier business in Japan, Greece, Canada and South Korea later this year. It hopes to open up electricity providers to 34 markets by the end of this year, which is more than half of that of H&M entities.

As of February 29th, the number of entity stores was 3970, and plans to add 425 by November.

The fast fashion brand H&M is the second largest clothing retailer in the world. Its turnover is only Zara after Inditex SA of Spain. The company reported net profit of 2 billion 550 million kronor 313 million US dollars in the first three months to February 29th, down 30% compared with 3 billion 510 million Swedish kroner in the same period last year.

During the period, turnover increased, excluding VAT, which amounted to SEK 43 billion 700 million US $5 billion 360 million.

The group said that the US dollar was the main currency for its clothing purchases from Asian suppliers. With the strong US dollar, the purchasing cost increased, resulting in the loss of profits. H&M also caused a lot of winter clothing overstocking due to the warm climate.

Karl-Johan Persson said that the exchange rate will have a negative impact on us all year round, but its final direction is positive, and the news is coming out.

That's 5.4% higher in the day to boost the retail market in Europe.