Last week, Delhi got a buoyant city story, one that has played out in many cities around the world. A serpentine queue of shoppers stood—some had camped since the previous evening—outside India’s first H&M store, at the Select Citywalk mall in Saket, on 2 October, waiting for it to open. The first three entrants received fat discounts, and the first 1,000 shoppers got an H&M India tote bag each. A promotion drive was in place at Delhi’s domestic airport and in the city. The words “Get Ready to Do Some Serious Shopping”, written on billboards, over images of trendy young models, had made the vocabulary clear even to those not conversant with the brand’s DNA, reports The Mint. Just two evenings earlier, a curious crowd, mostly mall- goers who were not among the 900-odd invitees to the VIP shopping party, had stood peeping into the store from the other side of the enclosures. The red carpet stretched from the entrance of the mall to the store inside. Dozens of “Can I help you?” staff in black T-shirts manned the churn; dozens of H&M sales crew walked around the store to assist shoppers. Shopping bags got filled rapidly as dainty small bites with champagne and wine went around. A flat 20% discount on purchases and the presence of film actors Ranveer Singh and Jacqueline Fernandez were the icing on the cake. Singh took to the floor, dancing in abandon; Fernandez swirled. As many would agree, the real star was the H&M merchandise. Apparel and accessories for men, women and children, lingerie, basics, including the brand’s Studio line for Autumn/Winter 2015, as well as Modern Essentials selected by David Beckham were all there. Everyone who has been to any H&M store in the world knows it as one of the most well-priced retailers. Even so, when the prices are converted into your own currency, you understand what good pricing really means. So the next morning, when Karl-Johan Persson, the chief executive officer of Swedish brand Hennes & Mauritz AB, which became H&M over the years, told us that “we want to surprise our customers”, it was tempting to say that they already had.
