Next price increase?

[aillae]

Originally Posted by precious-gucci

I cant afford LVs with the constant price increases. It's such a big turn off!

I agree! As soon as I get all the accessories on my wishlist, I'll be venturing into other brands. I love LV, but this is just outrageous!

Then again, I'm still relieved they're not going the Chanel route. Because holy crap, a Caviar Jumbo Flap is probably $3-$4K right now. Wooo.

[aeonat]

Originally Posted by precious-gucci

I cant afford LVs with the constant price increases. It's such a big turn off!

Yep, especially with the economy like this... it is almost to the point that I better hold off on buying new LV (especially if it is the permantent item).

The only issues is that we don't want to pay a higher price later (due to price increase). In other words, if they are not every 3 months price increase, we might not be rushing to get new bags all the time.

Hopefully LV will hold off on price increase at the end of this year due to the bad global ecomony situation

[Viv]

Originally Posted by canipus

No I don't work for LVMH and no I won't disclose sources - sorry. I am an International strategic marketing consultant (thirty years) for fortune 50 corporations and previously an advisor to the Foreign Trade Committee for tariffs and imports on Asian imports for the European parliament in Brussels. The LVMH pricing strategy isn't just about profits. It is also a regulator valve to ease pressure on production. With mass produced products you simply ramp production up and down - no problem - bring in more machines - speed up slow down the machines. With LV the products have a high amount of human labour and you can't ramp SKILLED human labour up and down without impacting quality of workmanship. There is a much higher level of inertia. If you raise prices in the EMEA region to slow demand you take pressure of labour intensive resources that are already stretched meeting demands in other regions. If you try and make people work faster quality suffers (heard about the quality problems in other threads - ring a bell?). You have to use price as a manufacturing valve BUT there is no point raising prices on product lines that are already manufactured and form part of your inventory. That WILL increase profits of course, but the game plan is to slow production on items to be manufactured - not on items that have been manufactured. LV have to raise prices to a point where the product is just affordable to a market size that they can handle. The problem is the psychology of Asians who are insane about having to own Louis Vuitton. They will bankrupt themselves and everyone around them in order to own the brand. A more moderate western frame of mind will simply move to other brands, as you correctly point out. Once that happens a degree of equilibrium will return and demand will grow at a slower controlled pace. In short, Asia has created a multitude of problems (not just counterfeit copies). The other strategy is simply not to supply the Asian markets or at least curtail it. That strategy failed as Asian purchasers simply travelled to Europe to purchase the product by the ton in local markets and then carried it back and resold it. Hence the "you can't purchase more than two of any product line" ruling. Raising prices is the only option - unless of course you learnt something in your economics class that LVMH have missed, in which case I strongly advise you contact them. I have it on good authority that they will pay mega bucks to allow you to showcase a solution.

LOL omg i know how that is.. as i am Asian but i am not as bad

But price incease suckssssss

[LVKeepallfan]

^^ Me too! LOL!

[beautibabe]

Originally Posted by jchiara

SA at the Los Angeles LV store confirmed November as well. No actual date, just the month.....

jchiara - Thank you for letting us know. At least we have a bit of a "dead-line" now to contemplate purchases before this last price increase hits us. I know I am going to ponder about making a couple purchases before then - I can't stand the ongoing price increases...

How about fellow tpf'ers?

[eminere™]

Would anyone know about what's happening in Australia?

[canadianstudies]

wasn't there just a price increase in august? this is so ridiculous!

[jane]

I'm glad I am pretty much done with my LV collection. I'll stick with LE items (that I LOVE) from here on out.

Bottega Veneta does one increase per year, always in July, and only on some items. And their stuff is all hand made. But they do not have the massive volume and popularity of LV.

[Scott.cs]

The next price increase is November the 15th.. My SA just called to tell me this a few minutes ago. She said that everyone was surprised not only because they just had an increase, but because they generally spring increases on them just days before they are supposed to go into affect. However, they notified them early on because the price is increasing on EVERYTHING, not select merchandise.

Just in time for the holidays and seasonal collections..


Also, she advised that I prepay everything that I have waitlisted for as it will lock in the current price and I will avoid the increase if I do not receive the pieces before the 15th.

[jane]

Looks like I'll be updating my little spreadsheet... I bought my first piece of LV (white MC koala wallet) for $620, now it's at $775. I bet $795 is next.

[cindy05]

That does it for me. I am now down to just one new LV/yr. I will just have to make do with what I already have. Its just not right.

[girlfriend]

According to info Canipus just gave us...Guess that explains why after the demand gets so high on a style...That would explain why some of the later stock is made in USA...When I got my Gallieria GM just after it was released ... It was made in France...Then I noticed just recently...same boutique ... Same bag...Made in USA.

[Fippie]

I would be willing to pay for the continuous price increases if the quality of the product was increasing (even a little bit). That isn't happening. According to long-time LV owners, the quality of some bags seems to be lower from what it was 10 + years ago.

[mumar_k]

I am sad...as I don't know if I can get a bag before Nov 15th :(

[LV_L0ver]

Sigh......really sad to hear there is another price increase coming and we just had one in August. Everything is increase except my salary, sigh...........