H&M is to pilot selling products from external brands as it plots moves to compete more directly with the likes of Asos and Zalando.
The Swedish fashion giant said the strategic shift could allow it to attract new shoppers.
It comes at a time when other traditional own-label specialists like Next are building larger stables of third-party brand partnerships as they move towards establishing a platform model online.
Some of H&M’s sister retailers, including &Other Stores and Arket, already sell a selection of external brands in addition to their own products.
Details of the move, first reported by Swedish news website breakit.se, emerged after a job advert was placed on the H&M website. It said the business had “set a first vision on what we would like to do” and was looking at “how to test and scale this for H&M”.
An H&M spokesman said: “The H&M brand will now develop our offer of external brands. The purpose is to complement our offer with external brands to add excitement and energy and we see great opportunities for growth and to find new customers.”
Yesterday, the H&M Group, which also owns the Cos, Afound and Monki brands, reported a 12% rise in sales to 62,572m Swedish krona (£5.2bn) during the three months to August 31.
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