Hennes & Mauritz, more commonly known as H&M, is a multinational retail organisation based in Sweden. Since opening its first store in 1947 as a fashion retailer, H&M has quickly expanded to become one of the world's powerhouse and vastly differentiated retail businesses (Greenblat, 2014). Founded by Erling Persson in 1947, it was initially called Hennes, the Swedish translation being "hers", and focused on selling just women's clothing. In 1968, the company purchased Mauritz Widforss and hence was renamed to Hennes & Mauritz and, since then, has diversified over the years and expanded its product portfolio, specializing in areas such as womenswear, menswear, childrenswear, footwear, accessories, cosmetics and home furnishings. It went public on the Stockholm Stock Exchange in 1974. In the 1950s, H&M began global expansion by entering neighbouring countries throughout Europe. Their first U.S. store was opened in 2000 in New York, their first establishment and expansion outside of Europe. In 2006, a major expansion of online and catalogue sales began. However online sales were limited to European countries. In 2007, H&M entered the Asian market by opening its first stores in Hong Kong and Shanghai and recently in 2014 opened its first store in Melbourne, Australia (Hennes & Mauritz, 2014). H&M's mission statement and business concept is to "offer fashion and quality at the best price", (Hennes & Mauritz, 2014). H&M offers customers inspiring shopping experiences in 54 markets, as well as through a growing shop online. According to H&M, "expansion is long-term while maintaining quality, sustainability and high profitability"(Hennes & Mauritz, 2014). H&M has expanded substantially in recent years, including 3,300 stores are spread across 54 markets worldwide making it a global fashion company. H&M are located in an iconic building, being the General Post Office building, and is in central location for all Melbournians to reach.
