Looking for the perfect online shop: H&M overview

We can take a different view of the mass-market universal simple clothing of the lower price range, discuss quality, style... But when looking at this niche from a marketing point of view, you should definitely pay attention to the online shop H&M.

You'll say: "It's only a simple cheap clothes with shops in every mall of the world".

But I'll tell you that H&M have developed a great web interface that makes shopping especially fast, cosy and comfortable. Here are my arguments.

There are 4 basic elements of an online shop that determine its success:

#1 A user-friendly catalogue, pleasant product navigation, an informative product card.

H&M do more giving customers the opportunity to see the product itself and how it would look on the model - this option will facilitate the selection of the look if a person wants to compose a whole look at once.
Check out the side bar: promotions are easy on the eyes. Find themed selections of clothes based on collection, country, season or upcoming holidays – customers take advantage of that.

And yes, I can add an item to my favourites without having to log in. That's what everyone should do!

Why can't many shops add that little button next to the size selection? You don't have to darken the background, but the option is cool.

A simple but not obvious solution: product information is hidden in a single button. When clicked, the list opens on the side on top of the interface and doesn't move the layout. If you need it, all the data is there: from size to fine details of care.

But clicking on the button opens up too big pictures. So far I haven't understood the point of this action, but at first glance this option seems superfluous.

#2 Availability of options to find the nearest shop and customer service

These are some of the most important buttons in the online shop interface. Yes, H&M has these buttons at the top, but it's still hard to notice them. Inside the sections everything is perfect (try the customer service chatbot or find the shop on the map).

Newsletters for a lower-price shop is now an unnecessary option that could be hidden lower down in the interface.

#3 Basket, payment, order status

H&M has implemented this item according to the usual trends. However, there are nuances that you want to swear at: why do you need my date of birth if I only want to place one order? Why do you need my email and phone number at the same time? I don't want unnecessary spam in SMS and mail, so I (like a lot of other users) need a choice.

Why do you provide such password requirements? Security is important, but within reasonable limits.

On the subject of security: for some reason there is no provision for payment via Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay - a musthave 2021.

#4 UNDERSTANDING loyalty programme

Yes, H&M is expanding its company and trying to take care of the environment by using recycled materials in production.

That's great, but tying the loyalty programme to that shouldn't have been the case. Most of H&M's ordinary customers don't care about the company's environmental credentials, so there's no point in tying the programme to it. H&M wants to instil its values in its audience, but it is better to take time to do so.

And a question: why i need 2 types of member's points?

I really don't want to say anything about vouchers in my personal account. It feels like I'm being slipped an unnecessary flyer with an imaginary benefit:

There are no other benefits of the loyalty programme: no discount drawings for regular customers, no discounts for purchases of popular clothing sets + accessories, etc.

And a few more things:

• H&M is pushing its mobile app quite tightly – "it's more convenient to shop with, and more convenient to keep your profile with your loyalty card". However, internet speeds and interfaces now allow people to make full use of mobile browsers. Type the site name into a search engine and get the full functionality of the online shop. Installing a separate app for each brand is an atavism that clogs up smartphone memory.
  Yes, I know that the app icon is more likely to flicker in front of a customer's eyes and increase loyalty - it's good for marketing. However, the widespread use of multiple screens, folders and the "App Library" on iOS ruins this concept.
• Typically, it doesn't make sense for average customers to go down at the home page of a website when entering it: they go straight to the catalog and look at interesting products and prices. If this is indeed the case, more than 80% of visitors of hm.com have no way of seeing H&M's branded style magazine https://www2.hm.com/en_gb/life.html. Surely the company has an editorial team and budgets for this project, but now they are wasting all money for nothing.
• Oh, I have found H&M's most unfortunate page https://www2.hm.com/en_gb/member/info.html (too many controversial designs and scattered benefits information that could fit on 2 screens - it just doesn't seem to have been finished).
• Check this out: https://www2.hm.com/en_gb/hm-sustainability/take-care.html/ (only keyword search is missing) – very useful idea!
• The H&M gift card may at first glance seem like a questionable birthday or Christmas gift, but it can be modified however you like: https://merchant.sgiftcard.eu/responsive/personalize_responsive/chooseDesign/hm_uk_2/1
  This option should definitely be promoted, it looks great.