Fashion retailer H&M said on Friday that sales had fallen during the past three months as fewer shoppers visited its stores, sending its shares plummeting and underlining its struggle to adapt to a shift of business online. Shares in the world's second-largest fashion retailer fell 13% to their lowest level since 2009. The Swedish group said sales in the September-November period were far below its own expectations. It plans to speed up efforts to adjust to changes in the market, including closing more H&M stores and opening fewer new ones, and starting selling the brand through the Chinese online platform Tmall. "The quarter was weak for the H&M brand's physical stores, which were negatively affected by a continued challenging market situation with reduced footfall to stores due to the ongoing shift in the industry," the company said in a statement. "In addition, there have been imbalances in parts of the H&M brand's assortment composition," it added, suggesting problems with its p...
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