India and Zalora in Southeast Asia. “I think marketplaces in Asia are ahead of the rest of the world, and we’re not ignorant to that,” Oldouz Mirzaie, the regional manager of H&M South Asia and Pacific, told Inside Retail. Globally, online marketplaces account for 62 per cent of total e-commerce sales, but in China, more than 80 per cent of online purchases occur on just three leading online marketplaces — Tmall, Taobao and JD.com — according to DigitalCommerce360. It can be risky for brands to rely too heavily on third-party marketplaces, as evidenced by the booting of H&M from Tmall earlier this year, following its decision to stop sourcing cotton from the Xinjiang region of China due to concerns about the use of forced labour. But brands can’t afford to ignore them either. In Southeast Asia, where H&M launched on the online fashion and lifestyle marketplace Zalora this past April, third-party marketplaces are an important part of its burgeoning omnichannel strategy. “We have a great physical store portfolio and a good start to our online portfolio, but we want to make it possible for our customers to choose when they shop, how they shop and where they shop,” Mirzaie said. H&M has nine stores in Singapore, 40 in Malaysia, 39 in the Philippines and 12 in Vietnam and operates its own e-commerce sites in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. It now also sells through Zalora in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. “We believe the future is really omnichannel,” she explained. “It’s just that the channels and platforms will fulfil different purposes going forward.” Shared focus on sustainability At the heart of H&M’s partnership with Zalora is a shared focus on sustainability.  “The ethos of our companies, the way we look at sustainability — not just driving growth, but driving meaningful growth — making a difference and taking responsibility for our value chain and supply chain…we felt this was a good fit,” Mirzaie said. H&M provides sourcing information online for every item it sells, including where and how it was made and the materials used, and it supports a global clothing takeback scheme to reduce the amount of textile waste going to landfill. For its part, Zalora offers the Earth Edit, a curated assortment of products that meet certain sustainability criteria, such as being made from materials with a lower carbon footprint, or in certified fair working conditions. “There’s a lot of potential for us to continue working on that,” Mirzaie said. According to Mirzaie, consumers in Southeast Asia are interested in purchasing sustainable products, but their definition of sustainable may differ from other parts of the world.  “When we look at Southeast Asia, a lot is connected to quality and longevity, as well as seasonality,” she said. For example, clothes made out of innovative fabrics that keep the wearer cool, so they don’t need to be washed as often, are popular.  “Decades ago we democratised fashion, now it’s about democratising sustainability so that it’s not a luxury,” she said. “Making sure it’s a natural part of everything we do and making it easy for our customers to make that choice as well.”  Passionate about collaboration   As Mirzaie looks to the future of H&M in Southeast Asia, she believes sustainability will only become more relevant.  “We can definitely see that people are starting to differentiate where they shop, the ethics behind the brand and how the garments are made,” she said. “These things are becoming very important, it’s not only price-driven anymore.” And H&M will continue to look to third-party platforms to drive that sustainability message home. “I think the days of silo competition are over,” she said.  “You can only drive real and meaningful change as an industry if you’re really passionate about collaborations, such as the one we have with Zalora. We look forward to continuing to build on those.”