On the evening of October 2, the news that H&M’s China revenue fell by 40% in the third quarter was posted on Weibo’s hot search.
H&M’s revenue in China fell by 40% in the third quarter
On September 30, the Swedish H&M Group’s new financial report showed that in the third fiscal quarter ( June-August) performed dismally in China, with performance plummeting and revenue plummeting by at least 40%, falling out of the top ten best-selling countries. Netizens commented on this: “Everyone, please work harder.”
In 2020 In the third quarter, China was still H&M’s fourth largest market, with sales of 2.55 billion Swedish kronor. In the third quarter of this year, Spain was H&M’s tenth largest market, with sales of 1.55 billion Swedish kronor.
Due to the failure in the Chinese market, H&M Group’s sales in Asia and Oceania fell by 5.1%, with a loss of 1.037 billion Swedish kronor.
In addition, the H&M brand has not stopped closing stores in 2021. In the past three quarters, 140 stores have been closed worldwide.
“Porcelain” Xinjiang cotton arouses public outrage
On March 24, 2021, the fast fashion brand H&M fell into a public opinion crisis in the Chinese market due to a due diligence announcement on China’s Xinjiang cotton released on its official website.
The statement reads: H&M Group is deeply concerned about reports from civil society organizations and media reports, including reports of forced labor and religious discrimination against ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. accusation.
In the statement, H&M Group stated that we do not cooperate with any clothing manufacturing factory located in Xinjiang, nor do we purchase products/raw materials from the region.
The statement stated that Xinjiang is the largest cotton growing area in China, and so far, our suppliers source from farms related to the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) in the region. Purchase cotton. As it becomes increasingly difficult to conduct credible due diligence in the region, BCI has decided to suspend the issuance of BCI cotton licenses in Xinjiang. This means the cotton we need for our products will no longer be sourced from there.
Official influencers such as the People’s Daily and the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League have successively launched a wave of denunciations against H&M, opposing smear and rumors and supporting Xinjiang cotton.
As the incident unfolded, H&M Group spokespersons Huang Xuan and Song Qian successively issued statements on the termination of cooperation , “Oppose any form of attempts to smear and spread rumors about the country and human rights.” In addition, e-commerce platforms such as Tmall, JD.com, and Pinduoduo have also removed H&M Group-related stores and products from their shelves.
We were jointly interviewed for having a “problem map” on the official website
Network Shanghai WeChat public account reported on April 2 this year: Recently, netizens reported to the management department that there was a “problematic China map” on H&M’s official website (hm), and the Shanghai Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Bureau immediately notified it to quickly correct it. After receiving the notice and correcting the error as soon as possible, Haynes Morris (Shanghai) Commercial Co., Ltd., the company that operates H&M’s official website, was jointly interviewed by the Shanghai Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Bureau and the Shanghai Municipal Internet Information Office.
During the interview, the two departments seriously pointed out the illegal facts of the company, ordered it to operate the network in accordance with the law, and to conscientiously study the “Cybersecurity Law of the People’s Republic of China” and “Surveying and Mapping of the People’s Republic of China” Law, “Map Management Regulations” and other laws and regulations, establish a strong awareness of national territory, and truly realize that “there is no mistake in standardizing the use of maps.” The two departments requested and made it clear that the main person in charge of the enterprise will take the lead in the follow-up rectification work and implement the main responsibility of website content management; the management department will carry out supervision and inspection in the future. The company said it accepted the admonishment from the management department and would implement rectifications. </p
