HM customers, lured by Madonna line, flock to Asia store debut

Hennes & Mauritz AB, Europe’s second-largest clothing retailer, said the premiere of their product range designed by Madonna helped lure hundreds of customers to its Hong Kong store, which opened its doors for the first time today, Bloomberg reports.

“Hong Kong is a good fashion city,” Chairman Stefan Persson said in an interview at the opening today. “The interest is enormous. There’s good potential in the Asian market.”

The first 20 customers through the door of H&M’s four-floor, 3,500-square-meter store located in Hong Kong’s prime central district received a trench coat signed by Madonna, with the next 500 getting a pair of sunglasses from her M by Madonna collection.

The shop paves the way for H&M’s expansion into the world’s most populous continent, with stores to follow in Shanghai and Tokyo.

The Madonna-designed collection, heavily promoted in Hong Kong through saturation advertising and newspapers and public transport, is the latest tactic to win back market share from Inditex, which last year surpassed H&M as Europe’s largest apparel retailer.

More than 500 people lined up outside the Hong Kong store, vying to grab a piece of the M Collection. The first in line, Wilkie Chu, said he’s a huge Madonna fan.

“I want to get the signed jacket so badly,” said Chu, 35, who started the queue at 10 a.m. yesterday. “I’m going to buy everything shown on the posters“.

H&M plans to add three more stores in Hong Kong this fall and aims to open two stores in Shanghai, with the first due to open April 12.

It plans to enter Japan next year after opening stores in Slovakia, Greece and Qatar in 2007.

From an article by Bloomberg.com. Pictures courtesy of Hennes & Mauritz AB.