Real life, real opportunity:
Moms are the market H&M Group can’t afford to overlook.

By 2030, the global maternity apparel market will be valued at 39.9B¹, while global postpartum products will be 4.13B². There is little to no research on postpartum apparel market specifically — yet our findings reveal a major unmet need. Moms are frustrated. Brands aren't delivering.

Moms cannot shop online because sizing is ‘‘atrociously inconsistent’’. But shopping in-store is at most a quick in & out because the space & experience is not kid-friendly. Comfort is high priority but they cannot find things in their style.

Ultimately Moms shop less and H&M Group is losing a lot of potential revenue by overlooking new Moms’ needs. Good news - there is a lot that can be done, from short-term easy implementations to long-term visions.

What will this case study recommend? More to come…

H&M GROUP for MOMs

Real life. Real style.

Young mom standing by the window, holding her baby and kissing his forehead.

the brief

How can H&M Group provide a shopping experience that makes new moms feel confident, valued and supported?

target group

Moms with kids ≤ 3 yrs.

client (fictional)

H&M Group

role

UX Design Student @ Hyper Island

project background

I am given a brief to ‘‘create a feature that delivers confidence when shopping’’ for Moms who are ending maternity leave. I tweaked the brief to fit my intentions of exploring UX Design and Branding. The following are my user research and findings. More content will be added as my case study progresses.

research process

Interviewed 6 Moms who have 1-2 kids, their youngest between 4 months to 3 years. One of the Moms is pregnant with her 2nd.

Questions included qualitative & quantitative, in addition to card sorting.

map out assumptions in preparation for user research

slide 1
summary

slide 2
hypothesis

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slide 3…
findings

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last slide
design principle, next step

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of findings, each based on a hypothesis

5 sets

Quite frankly, I thought ‘‘What in the world am I going to do with a brief about shopping?!’’ I belittled the topic, and at the same time felt lost.

As I followed along the research process, my attitude quickly changed to enthusiasm. But there were a lot of ups and downs as illustrated in the graph.

My first project sharing was writing this Medium article. I was not very pleased with my content, not convinced about my design principles and recommendations. So I redid my synthesis, used ChatGPT, which to my delight revealed insights that I did not see on my own. Now I am in a happy place with the content I present.

I definitely see and believe now when my industry leaders say to ‘‘trust the process.’’ I will continue to do so in my current class module on Ideation, Design Principles & Processes. Look forward to share new updates here.

Reflection of my work to date

Footnotes

Grand View Research. (2024). Maternity Wear Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report. Retrieved from https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/maternity-wear-market
Meta Tech Insights. (2024). Postpartum Products Market Size, Share, Trends and Forecast to 2035. Retrieved from https://www.metatechinsights.com/industry-insights/postpartum-products-market-1604