H&M’s online store fails to replicate high-street brand experience

In today’s multi-channel route to market, it is essential for retailers to deliver a consistent and seamless customer experience across all sales platforms. However, if even one of these channels fails, it can instantly portray a negative viewpoint of an entire brand. Fieldworks’ Charlotte Batten details her recent experiences with H&M’s online store, highlighting just how easily a brand’s reputation can go awry if its eye is not kept firmly on the ball.

A sale on H&M’s website at the end of May caught my eye, and, as a fan of its high-street stores, I decided to have a good look through - eventually opting for two sale items: a dress and a jumpsuit. Completing the purchase proved a smooth transaction, but I was then greeted with some rather discouraging news. Specifically, that the dress would not be delivered for 6-10 days (not awful, by any means), whilst the jumpsuit would be a far lengthier 13-17 days (not great)! Had I known about these substantial delivery times before placing my order, I would have likely reconsidered and paid a visit to one of their high street stores instead.

I patiently waited… and waited… and waited until June 19th (a full 20 days after the order was made) when I finally decided to contact customer services. After my initial contact went completely ignored, my second complaint was finally dignified with the following response: “We are unable to confirm when we expect the delivery to be made”. Without even the hint of an apology, I decided to cancel my order there and then to save myself further hassle.

Of course, a girl can always change her mind – and, annoyingly, H&M had two more jumpsuits in stock that I took a fancy to, so I decided to give it one last chance. Big mistake!

On this occasion, I was told that my items would be delivered in just 2-6 days, which was very welcome news after the last ordeal. Just to be on the safe side, I accessed my online account several days later to check the status of my order, where – much to my bemusement – I discovered that the order had simply disappeared.

Fed up of this increasingly poor service, I decided to call customer services right away, but was advised to simply place my order again from scratch. Naturally, I promptly refused this guidance and instead demanded an explanation as to what exactly happened to my order. Despite having an order confirmation number, I was fobbed off and told to write to customer services. I did so that very day, and as you may have guessed, I am still waiting for a reply.

With social media having a big impact on how retailers deal with customer experience, I made H&M aware of my dismay on Twitter and Facebook. Its response was: “We’re sorry that you had another bad experience. Feel free to address your comments at www.hm.com/contact”. Obviously, I’d already done this many times and it proved an entirely futile exercise.

I have been thoroughly put off with shopping at H&M’s online store, and it would take an extraordinary item (and price) for me to even consider dealing with them again.

Published July 2011

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