H&M opened the first store in Japan in Tokyo-Ginza on September 13, 2008

Long queues in the first few days: 8000 shoppers/day

H&M entered Japan‘s apparel market initially using a green field strategy, opening stores. On September 13, 2008, H&M opened the first store in Japan in Ginza, and is planning two more stores in Shibuya (see picture below) and in Harajuku.

H&M success in Japan – adapt to Japan:

H&M adapted it’s global way of doing things to Japan’s market needs – for example, H&M introduced “Quality Managers” in it’s Japan store, in order to match Japan’s consumers high expectations for quality (and I guess also to avoid problems with Japan’s recently introduced product liability laws).

H&M success in Japan – 8000 customers per day:

One week after opening, customers are queuing in line to enter the store – typical waiting time is about 2 hours, daily number of visitors to the store are estimated to be about 8000/day.

Closest foreign competitors in Japan include US retailer GAP, and Spanish retailer Inditex (Diseno Textil SA)’s ZARA.

Biggest Japanese competitor is Fast Retailing’s UNIQLO.

H&M is preparing to open the second and third stores in Shibuya (photo below) and in Harajuku.