Confessions of a H&M employee: Former retail worker dishes out the seven secrets every customer should know when shopping at the popular fashion store
- A former H&M employee has dished out the secrets every customer should know
- Rita Kaminski, from Sydney, worked as a casual at the retailer chain for two years
- The 23-year-old has revealed the ins and outs to scoring discounts at the store
- She shared tips on when to shop for sales and the best time to get popular items
A former H&M employee has revealed seven secrets every customer should know when shopping at the popular fashion retail store.
Rita Kaminski, from Sydney, worked at the clothing chain for two years as a casual while studying at university.
The 23-year-old has revealed the ins and outs to scoring discounts, when to shop for sales, and the best time to get your hands on re-stocks of popular, sold-out items.
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Former H&M employee Rita Kaminski (pictured) dished out the seven secrets every customer should know when shopping at the fashion retailer store
1. Always check the barcodes
In her YouTube video, Rita said always check the barcode because as the seasons progress, various garments will have minor tweaks - and those improvements will cost you full price if you're looking at the current season.
'Look at the barcode, and look at the last number. If it's "5" at the end, that means we're in season five and everything that's "hot" is season five,' she said.
'Sometimes there would be an exact identical garment but one barcode would be season four and the other would be season five - but they would be drastically different in price. I'm talking about $5 to $20, $25 or $30.'
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She said the tweaks are very minor - and the only difference between the identical garments would be the fabric quality or buttons or shorter sleeves.
'So you can definitely just look at the season or you can always ask an employee to double check, they are always happy to help,' she said.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted H&M for comment.
Always check the barcodes: Just by looking at the last digit, you can get yourself a bargain if the item is from the previous season
2. Arrive early for sold-out items
If a shopper wants to get their hands on a certain item that is constantly sold out, Rita suggested arriving at the store first thing in the morning.
'If you want something, if you had your eye on something and you haven't been able to find something for a long time, go in the morning,' Rita said.
'At 6am on the dot, trucks would come into our loading zone and just give us barrels and barrels of new stuff, including popular and out-of-stock items.
'We specifically start shifts three hours before the store opens to place every item on the floor.'
3. Wait until the next season for a deal
If there's an item you've been keeping an eye on for a while or you can't afford it just yet, Rita suggested to wait until the next season to score a deal.
'Wait and just scope it out, most of the items go on sale. Some drop down to very low prices,' she said.
The 23-year-old has revealed the ins and outs to scoring discounts, and the best time to shop
Sales go longer than you think! Rita said discounted items stay on racks until they are sold out
4. Don't bother asking 'is there stock at the back?'
The most common question Rita would get when she worked at H&M was: 'Do you have more of this at the back?'
'My answer would always be: "If it's not on the floor, we wouldn't have it anywhere else". Unless there's a big sale. H&M staff usually bring all stock onto the floor,' she said.
'Almost every morning at 6am, we would come down to the loading dock to collect new garments delivered to us and place it onto the shop floor without having to put anything in the stockroom.'
5. Sales are longer than you think
Rita said sale prices on garments keep going far longer than the sale prices that are advertised.
'We can only finish the sales when everything is sold,' she said.
'So a sale could be going on for two or three months and they could be saying "flash sale, take as much as you can".'
If there's an item you've been keeping an eye on for a while or you can't afford it just yet, Rita suggested waiting until the next season to score a deal
Rita said the clothes displayed on the mannequins are strategically placed on the rack behind them or to the side - saving you from wandering the entire store
6. Mannequins show you where to go
Rita said the clothes displayed on the mannequins are strategically placed on the rack behind them or to the side - saving you from wandering through the entire store to find what you want.
'Customers can find that garment right behind the mannequin. If you don't find it there, it's not going to be anywhere else - this is worldwide,' she said.
7. You can find the runway look in the 'trend' section
Rita said the 'trend' section of a H&M store are more expensive garments but they tailor to the looks that are currently out on the runway.
Customers will be paying for the best quality - meaning the piece of clothing will last you longer than average.
'Trend is where you want to look because the quality is a lot better. This is the compartment that was my favourite,' she said.
'Basically to put it in short, they're Instagram clothes and it's more expensive but the garments and the quality is actually really good.
'If you are paying money for something that's $69, you are paying for not only the trend in itself but also you're paying for something that lasts a little bit longer.'
Rita's top tips to shop at H&M
After Kourtney Kardashian posted a picture of herself wearing a pair of H&M pants (pictured), the item was consistently sold out for weeks
1. In August 2017, Kourtney Kardashian posted a photo on Instagram wearing green, sparkly pants which happened to be from H&M. Since then, the pants consistently sold out for the next couple of weeks. In these circumstances, if you are on the hunt for a highly sought after item, search for that item in the mornings. H&M staff put new and limited stock items onto the shop floor in the early hours of the morning on a daily basis.
2. If you want a deal on an item you like, wait until the start of a new season as most items go on sale. You can easily ask a worker when that would be. There were so many moments when I bought an item for full price, only to find out a couple of weeks later that they slashed the item to more than half the price. I'll never forget the moment I bought a beautiful dress for $99, only to find out it dropped down to $20 within a week.
3. Often times customers would walk up to me with two identical garments that would have drastically different prices. I'd explain to them that as seasons progress, various garments will have minor improvements which can cost you full price.
4. Multiple times within the year there would be insane sales going on with up to 70 per cent off on items. It can look like those sales could end very soon but they can go on for months until most garments are sold out. You'll know they are nearing to the end when the sale section of the store begins to shrink.
5. The 'trend' collection of a H&M store is said to be the best quality of clothes that will last you longer than average. I've personally had experience with this, with all clothes bought from 'trend' usually maintaining its quality.
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