H&M stock tumbled 12% Thursday (March 31) after the clothing retailer’s sales slowed down in March as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had consumers rethinking whether they needed to update their wardrobes.
The company’s net sales for the first four weeks of March were up 6% after an 18% jump in the first quarter of fiscal 2022, ending Feb. 28.
“We are deeply concerned about the war in Ukraine and are following developments closely. We stand with all those around the world who are calling for peace,” said CEO Helena Helmersson in a report by The Financial Times Thursday (March 31). “Once again, we have to be flexible and act quickly as circumstances change.”
H&M has temporarily closed its 185 stores in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, ending sales at those locations as the Russian attacks on Ukraine continue. The company has 4,700 worldwide locations, and sales excluding the closed stores were up 11% in March in local currencies.
“We started the new year with increased initiatives to create an even better foundation for long-term growth,” Helmersson said. “The initiatives mainly involve continuing to develop the customer experience by, for example, further broadening the assortment and integrating the sales channels, and by continuing to invest in infrastructure such as tech and the supply chain.”
Related: H&M Selling Other Fashion Brands on its Website to Better Compete
At the beginning of March, H&M began selling external fashion brands on its central website in Sweden and Germany, with plans to add additional labels and geographic markets. H&M now offers 13 labels for womenswear and 15 for menswear, in addition to about 20 labels in H&M Group’s portfolio, which includes &Other Stories, Arket, Weekday and Monki.
A little more than one-third of H&M’s sales were generated online last year.
External labels on hm.com are featured in a section called H&M with Friends and include Lee, Wrangler, Fila, Superdry, Crocs, Eastpak, Aimn, Kangol, Chimi, Houdini, Ecoalk and Buffalo.
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