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H&M's New Boss Erver Faces Battle to Reboot Sales

H&M logo is seen on one of the Swedish retailer's shops January 30, 2020. (Reuters)
H&M logo is seen on one of the Swedish retailer's shops January 30, 2020. (Reuters)
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H&M's New Boss Erver Faces Battle to Reboot Sales

H&M logo is seen on one of the Swedish retailer's shops January 30, 2020. (Reuters)
H&M logo is seen on one of the Swedish retailer's shops January 30, 2020. (Reuters)

Investors will be looking for reassurances from new H&M CEO Daniel Erver that he has the right plan to reboot revenue growth when the fast fashion retailer reports its first quarterly earnings under his leadership on Wednesday.
Erver took the helm in January after his predecessor Helena Helmersson stepped down unexpectedly on the day of H&M's annual results, unsettling investors, Reuters reported.
H&M shares are still down 10% from where they stood before that.
The retailer has struggled to keep pace with bigger rivals such as Zara owner Inditex, whose shares hit a record high last week, while China-founded fast-fashion firm Shein is also expanding rapidly in Europe.
"The consumer space remains very polarized," said Dora Buckulcikova, lead portfolio manager of Dutch asset manager Robeco's fashion equity strategy.
"We have been quite surprised by just how strong demand for certain brands has been, but others in the middle market are getting squeezed."
H&M, which sells dresses for $9.99 and jeans for as little as $17.99, but is also stretching into higher price points with its brands Cos and Arket, is expected to report its weakest quarterly sales in two years on Wednesday.
Revenue is expected to drop to 53.4 billion Swedish crowns ($5 billion) from 54.9 billion a year earlier, LSEG analyst estimates show. Operating profit is expected to double to 1.422 billion crowns.
H&M says it is prioritizing profitability over sales volumes as it aims to reach a 10% operating margin this year.
Still, the retailer is stepping up investment in its stores and logistics, announcing in January that capital expenditure would increase by up to 30% this year to 11-12 billion crowns.
H&M needs to follow Inditex's lead and invest in improving its store network and logistics, even if that weighs on its profit margin short-term, said Nick Clay, portfolio manager at Redwheel in London. Clay previously held H&M in his fund, but switched to Inditex in May 2022.
SQUEEZED MIDDLE
Improving the look and feel of stores is one way H&M can attract more aspirational shoppers, experts say. In a store H&M opened last week on the King's Road in London, the layout is more spacious, the range more curated and the changing rooms more comfortable than a typical H&M.
Investors will also be looking for Erver to detail plans to "near shore" and improve H&M's logistics.
The speed with which companies in the sector respond to consumer behavior is a key differentiator, said Olivier van Hirtum, head of developed market equities at APG Asset Management in Amsterdam.
"Companies that have shorter supply chains – both physically, and in time – can respond faster to fashion trends, and we've seen them take share from companies that take longer," he said.
H&M is taking measures to improve collections, time to market, and inventory geographic allocations, which should drive improvements in its top-line growth and, by extension, profitability, said Magnus Raman, analyst at Kepler Cheuvreux in Stockholm.
H&M has also been closing stores in recent years. At the end of its 2023 financial year it had 700 fewer stores than in 2019, a decline of 14%.
H&M's cash position of 26.398 billion crowns, or around $2.5 billion, was up 22% from a year earlier, though still small compared to Inditex's 11.4 billion euro ($12.34 billion) cash pile.

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Fashion

80-year-old LL Bean Staple Finds New Audience as Trendy Bag

Gracie Wiener poses with some of her tote bags in Washington Square Park in New York, Wednesday, July 17, 2024, (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Gracie Wiener poses with some of her tote bags in Washington Square Park in New York, Wednesday, July 17, 2024, (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
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80-year-old LL Bean Staple Finds New Audience as Trendy Bag

Gracie Wiener poses with some of her tote bags in Washington Square Park in New York, Wednesday, July 17, 2024, (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Gracie Wiener poses with some of her tote bags in Washington Square Park in New York, Wednesday, July 17, 2024, (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

L.L. Bean created it 80 years ago to haul heavy blocks of ice. Now it's a must-have summer fashion accessory, The Associated Press reported.

The simple, sturdy canvas bag called the Boat and Tote is having an extended moment 80 years after its introduction, thanks to a social media trend in which they're monogrammed with ironic or flashy phrases.

New Yorker Gracie Wiener helped get it started by ordering her humble bags from L.L. Bean monogrammed with “Psycho” and then “Prada,” the pricey Italian luxury brand, instead of just her name or initials, and posting about them on Instagram. Then others began showcasing their own unique bags on TikTok.

Soon, it wasn’t enough to have a bag monogrammed with “Schlepper,” “HOT MESS,” “slayyyy” or “cool mom.” Customers began testing the limits of the human censors in L.L. Bean’s monogram department, which bans profanity “or other objectionable words or phrases,” with more provocative wording like “Bite me,” “Dum Blonde” and “Ambitchous.”

Social media fueled the surge, just as it did for Stanley’s tumblers and Trader Joe’s $2.99 canvas bags, which were once selling on eBay for $200, said Beth Goldstein, an analyst at Circana, which tracks consumer spending and trends.
The tote’s revival came at a time when price-conscious consumers were forgoing expensive handbags, sales of which have weakened, and L.L. Bean’s bag fit the bill as a functional item that’s trendy precisely because it’s not trendy, she said. L.L. Bean's regular bags top out at about $55, though some fancier versions cost upward of $100.
“There’s a trend toward the utilitarian, the simple things and more accessible price points,” she said, and the customization added to the appeal: “Status items don’t have to be designer price points.”

L.L. Bean’s tote was first advertised in a catalog as Bean’s Ice Carrier in 1944 during World War II, when ice chests were common. Then they disappeared before being reintroduced in 1965 as the Boat and Tote.

These days, they’re still made in Maine and are still capable of hauling 500 pounds of ice, but they are far more likely to carry laptops, headphones, groceries, books, beach gear, travel essentials and other common items.

Those snarky, pop-oriented phrases transformed them into a sassy essential and helped them spread beyond Maine, Massachusetts’ Cape Cod and other New England enclaves to places like Los Angeles and New York City, where fashionistas like Gwyneth Paltrow, Reese Witherspoon and Sarah Jessica Parker are toting them — but not necessarily brandished with ironic phrases.

“It’s just one of those things that makes people smile and makes people laugh, and it’s unexpected,” said Wiener, who got it all started with her @ironicboatandtote Instagram page, which she started as a fun side hustle from her job as social media manager for Air Mail, a digital publication launched by former Vanity Fair Editor-in-Chief Graydon Carter.

The folks at L.L. Bean were both stunned and pleased by the continuing growth. For the past two years, the Boat and Tote has been L.L. Bean’s No. 1 contributor to luring in new customers, and sales grew 64% from fiscal years 2021 to 2023, spokesperson Amanda Hannah said.

The surge in popularity is reminiscent of L.L. Bean’s traditional hunting shoe, the iconic staple for trudging through rain and muck, which enjoyed its own moment a few years back, driven by college students.