TheChek News Flow

The tip seemed almost too good to be true. But at the same time the intelligence facilitator sounded very credible:

The clothing giant H & M would secretly work on building something that could almost be described as a giant digital outlet. A brand new e-commerce platform where H & M would sell clothes at highly discounted prices. The betting code name: "P12".

"It's a bit like the Galne Gunnar concept on the net. H & M will buy outbound batches from other clothing retailers and sell them on this platform, "said my source.

The Galne Gunnar reference may not say so much to Breakit's younger reading circle but for us over 40, the name is known. Galne Gunnar was a low-priced chain that H & M started in 1988 and most of it consisted of almost 20 department stores.The idea was that H & M would offset larger items of goods purchased by buyers, but did not really fit into H & M's regular supply. The investment got a lot of attention over a few years but did not seem to have been commercial when H & M laid down the concept in the early 2000s.

H & M now seemed to be on the go with some kind of hot digital version of Galne Gunnar, at least according to the source. And that was not a small bet we were talking about either.

"The launch will take place in the beginning of 2018. I have not been there myself, but they are on a whole floor at Mall of Scandinavia, compared to many other startup projects that you read about this, it must be much bigger," said my information provider .

The information he came with seemed both initiated and well-founded - but could it really sue that 50, maybe 100, people for many months worked on such a project without leaking it? According to the source, H & M had already contacted a number of clothing brands to bring them to the platform at the start.

I decide to try to clarify the matter myself. With the address on my pocket, I will leave the editorial office on Wednesday afternoon with the destination Mall of Scandinavia outside Stockholm.

No company with connection to H & M is registered at the address but when I enter the entrance to the anonymous office complex, the clothesline's logo is on the wall.

It proves nothing in substance. But as I step off the elevator on the fifth floor, things happen.

Inside the glass walls (the detail, H & M's information managers must think about the next time they build a secret project), a display clearly shines on what's going on:

# The code name for the project is "P12".

# Launch will take place in the week starting on Monday, April 16 (based on the 16 week to launch task on screen).

# 63 different brands have so far said yes to join ("63 brands signed", it is on screen).

# The new platform is described as "The style and dealhunting paradise".

Exactly what brands will come from starting from the platform are a bit more difficult to figure out. But on another wall inside the office is a board where the brands appear to be listed.

I can not get married but on top of the list of brands, I find it possible to distinguish the name "NA-KD". And it would hardly be a pioneer that H & M wants to start with NA-KD, the Nordic region's fastest growing online store online.

Inside the office there is full activity and I count almost 100 offices, although far from everyone is busy this weekend. The large office area gives a clear indication that this is a project that H & M has invested heavily in.

Assuming that hundreds of people work with what is called "P12" and that the project was run throughout 2017, one can assume that H & M has invested 50-100 million. And then we have not counted on any consultants and the real marketing campaign that will come in connection with the launch.

Already in 2016 , "P12" was mentioned as one of two secret projects that H & M worked with . The fact that H & M starts new brands and stores outside of the "core H & M" itself is not a new one. The Galne Gunnar concept is an example of this, a more successful case is the Cos chain store, which sells billions of billions.Two other H & M startups that still live are the chain & Other Stories (launched in 2013) and H & M Home selling home furnishings.

H & M with the CEO and Major Owner Karl-Johan Persson has recently been under severe pressure. Two weeks before Christmas, he delivered a real cold shower to the stock market - sales fell by 2 percent during the fourth quarter of clothing. The fact that a growth phenomenon like H & M is no longer growing was a roger and an important explanation is that the clothing giant has come to a halt digitally.

Now Karl-Johan Persson is doing everything to convince investors that H & M's digital strategy will accelerate growth again. An important part of the charm offensive is the capital market day that H & M has invited in early February. There, H & M has promised more meat on its legs around the company's digital efforts.

There is no daring guess that Karl-Johan Persson reveals the launch of a new concept that has hitherto been under the code name "P12".

From H & M itself it is hard to get any clarity. When I on Thursday afternoon confronted the company's head of investor relations, Nils Vinge, with the information I received, he says:

"We always have several new projects in progress, we recently launched Arket. But for natural reasons, we never talk about these bets before they are launched.Therefore, I have no comments on your information. "