Versace for H&M: Lesson Learned??

I have to admire H&M for their success with designer diffusion collections. By producing limited stock of the collections and thanks to some great marketing before their release they have been able to create a massive buzz and a huge rush on the stores each time. It certainly seems to be working, as they continue to release new collections. However when the Versace for H&M collection was launched back in November, trying to buy the items turned out to be a nightmare!

Not being the sort to queue for hours outside a store I had planned an online purchasing strategy. I’d browsed the collection in advance, chosen the two items I’d planned to buy, and waited to log in on the morning of the release. No such luck! I’d expected items to sell out quickly. I hadn’t expected technical difficulties lasting all morning, being unable to access the site at all for hours and then the site crashing once I was lucky enough to get to the product pages! All in all, not a great customer experience, although I did end up eventually getting the items I wanted.

So when the Versace for H&M cruise collection was launched last week, had H&M learned from the problems experienced in November? Well, to be honest, although I’d seen some very cute items when browsing the collection in advance, in the end I decided that none of them were worth the effort! The online shopping experience is supposed to be convenient and quick, and this should generally make up for the fact that you don’t get the “hands-on” experience of shopping in a store. I suppose you can’t really expect the “luxury” shopping experience you might get from Versace when you are shopping their high-street diffusion range, but you should be able to expect the standard online shopping experience!

Hopefully by the time H&M’s Marni collection is launched in March they will have sorted something out so that the website can cope with the demand a bit better. Hopefully I’ll feel the urge to check it out too!