When you shop at the FP store...this is the last one comment

[lizmil]

I usually shop at the outlets since the nearest FP store is at quite a distance.

The few times I have been there ~FP ~I invariably get hit with, "Do you like that bag, that's our last one." Looking at something else --- "that's our last one." etc. One of the FP stores "nearby," is a flagship store & still it's, "Oh, that's our last one." Seriously, every da** bag in the store is the last one? I know Coach has supposedly cut production, but you only send the flagship stores one of each item? Come on...

And they tell you since we are a flagship we are the only one in "x" area to have this. Then you cross through the mall into Macy's or Nordstrom & there it is.

Talk about killing your credibility!

One SA at the outlet told me a damaged bag (Audrey) had the whole line canceled by "corporate" because there was a problem with the hardware peeling so I'd better snap up the damaged specimen. Little did she know I'd seen the same model at a different outlet (not damaged) just days before. Selling at the regular outlet price.

Do they just say whatever they think they must to make a sale?

 

[ms-whitney]

i wouldn't say its the last one, unless the customer is almost sure, but still deciding..and even then i wouldn't say that exactly word for word, i'd tell her something along the lines of its her lucky day/its meant to be..because its the last one in store!!, and check jax to see if its order-able. whether she chooses to get it or not, is up to her. saying its the last one sounds almost...bad to me..and i would not say that to a customer..because when i was naive and DID say it the results were not positive i can tell you that for sure. it is not a way to make a sale.


as for the whole, it being at nordys or macys as well..this is something that the sales associates would NOT know unless they go out of their way to go and shop there..and i think i've touched on this before, but if you get coach at your store, and at a discount no less, you'd less likely go to the coach section because what is the point? if you see something there you like that isn't at your store-- you couldn't get it at a discount anyways and to be honest, once you get a discount it is very hard to buy at full price anymore..so yes, some extreme coach enthusiast sales associates would go and check out what nordy's and macy's have..but it is not a requirement

anyways i am starting to ramble on that.

thank goodness coach is starting to limit what can be brought on wholesale so you will not see everything carried in coach stores also carried in macys and nordys. there will be a good amount crossed over, but they came out with a pretty good list of stuff that will not be available in nordys/macys/dillards/bloomies/anyotherauthorizedwholesaler.

 

[oxlivhopexo]

thank goodness coach is starting to limit what can be brought on wholesale so you will not see everything carried in coach stores also carried in macys and nordys. there will be a good amount crossed over, but they came out with a pretty good list of stuff that will not be available in nordys/macys/dillards/bloomies/anyotherauthorizedwholesaler.

^^^see that part sucks for people like me that work at macy's though because then they (macys) doesnt get the bags that i want so i either have to pay fp or not get it. =[

 

[AutumnJade]

ms-whitney...I love that you are on here giving us input from the other side. It's sooo nice sometimes.
Regarding the last bag comment, I've been told that once. It was the gray patent peyton and I went back and got her. Had buyers remorse and returned her. You know what? She was the last one, they went to the outlet the next week and I was never able to track her back down. So...I would just kind of gauge the SA and see if they are being genuine I guess. I will say that when she told me it was the last one it wasn't in a pushy manner and they assisted me as much as I needed but weren't overbearing.
I guess everyone's experience is different. It'd be interesting to hear how others experiences have been.

 

[COHgirl]

I was in the FP store 2 days ago looking at the yellow Kristins. I couldn't even tell you which one it was. I was told...You might want to get it now, they didn't make very many of those in that color!

 

[ms-whitney]

^^^see that part sucks for people like me that work at macy's though because then they (macys) doesnt get the bags that i want so i either have to pay fp or not get it. =[

its a double edge sword! same goes for international styles that..we don't have and can't even order

ms-whitney...I love that you are on here giving us input from the other side. It's sooo nice sometimes.
Regarding the last bag comment, I've been told that once. It was the gray patent peyton and I went back and got her. Had buyers remorse and returned her. You know what? She was the last one, they went to the outlet the next week and I was never able to track her back down. So...I would just kind of gauge the SA and see if they are being genuine I guess. I will say that when she told me it was the last one it wasn't in a pushy manner and they assisted me as much as I needed but weren't overbearing.
I guess everyone's experience is different. It'd be interesting to hear how others experiences have been.

i think so too, i'm glad i can give another perspective

I was in the FP store 2 days ago looking at the yellow Kristins. I couldn't even tell you which one it was. I was told...You might want to get it now, they didn't make very many of those in that color!

well..i know my store only got two large yellow hobos and two small ones..and we sold out of the large hobos and just got replenished...

i think they are expecting the yellow to do well because of parker hippie in pale yellow..but to be honest..i think that is a huge mistake on company's part. once something sells really well it is because it is in the moment, that fashion trend color just right... and it may sell well now but never as good as before IMO and it isn't even the same color shade or texture of leather!

we shall see i guess..

 

[ashnickers]

In my experience, SAs do not just say anything to make a sale. As far as being told that something is the last one in the store or system it is most likely true - Coach can't look into Department stores' inventory. Coach stores and Department stores are not connected, they are separate from each other. There are also so few in the system at times where it might list very few but they could be damaged or another store's inventory may not be updated.

 

[BagloverBurr]

lol when i was a leaseing agent i would say..if you like the apartment you want to put a hold on it, we are rent them out super fast. It usually got people to rent things

 

[ms-whitney]

^i think everyone does this..

but for me, esp with coach's return policy..i would not want to mislead the customer..because i'd want a repeat (versus pple who rent usually stay for a good amount of time) and not only that

if i am telling a lie and they find out, they could always return?

 

[fox0r]

The SA's at my FP are so pushy I really hate going there. I'll walk in and they'll ask me how I'm liking my bag, and then ask me, basically, am I going to by this or that.

I went in around valentines day because FH was going to by me a goodie. I mentioned this to the SA and she hounded me the entire time asking me if I was going to get this, or get that, or if he was going to buy me a bag today, etc etc.

I'd much rather drive the 40 minutes to the outlet. The SAs there are so sweet and nice, and so NOT pushy!

 

[ashnickers]

I've felt bad a couple of times when a customer will come in lovigng their bag/accesory and they will look around and be like, oh i was told that it was the last one when i bought it - I explain that I'm sure it was but we get shipments all the time so at the time it was but we just replenished the bag/accesory.

I hate it but sometimes I feel like the customer thinks we are lying to them

 

[ashnickers]

being pushy isn't the way to go about getting someone to buy a bag. If they are in love with it, they are going to walk outta the store w/ it in their hands regardless if it's the last one or not

 

[ktdydit]

It's a thin line. I don't like pushy sales people, but I don't like being ignored, either. I like the SA's at my outlet, because they are very available, but (most) are not at all pushy, and they all geniunely like the bags.

On my last visit, I had a conversation with an SA trying to choose between a Hailey and a Poppy (Groovy?). (I hope she got the Poppy after all, because she really seemed to like it a lot!) Anyway, that type of thing will sell me on a bag more than the "This is the only yadda yadda left..." (and did, I bought a beautiful Hailey that I had been debating on until their nice conversations made me want to boost their numbers a bit

I don't like being sold, and having worked in retail sales for the majority of my working years, I know when I am being sold. The majority of the time, if I feel I am being forced into a sale, I will walk around with it, debate it, and then leave it on the table when I leave. It's when an associate really talks to me as a person, and not just a sale that will get me to give her name at the register/return as a customer/make sure an SA working on commission gets the check.

That associate talking to me about the bag, and the other one who piped in and then went on to talk about Legacy leathers to me were a real treat on a particularly crappy day.

I don't want to feel like just a consumer, I am at a Coach boutique because I like the product, not just because I need a purse. I could go anywhere and get a bag to "hold my stuff" for like $12.99, you know?

There is one associate who rountinely goes the route of "this one is hot" or "there is only one" or whatever. She does not get my sale. I will find out the name of someone else on the floor, or give the name of an associate who has worked with me in the past if I like a bag and want to get it, but have been hounded by her. Mean? Maybe. But when I've worked in retail, it's either been on commission, or been based on my sales, and I learned how to make changes in the way I was selling when I wasn't making progress with an approach that dropped my numbers, know what I mean?

 

[ms-whitney]

thats a great point being made, i honestly do not get sales by saying its the last one, and as have stated previously before, avoid it at all costs.

i make general chitchat and i'll be honest, while it is sincere, it is just another routine of selling. it doesn't seem like it if its sincere, and if its naturally done, but it is still a method of selling. when u are walking into a store, no matter what, u are being sold to. they might not even mention the product at all but if they are talking to you, they are selling to you. it might be something as 101 as complimenting something you are wearing to something a bit more complex..

and its like that with any store. any brand. any company. big or small

 

[ktdydit]

Right. I get that. I am not a football fan at all, but darn it, I noticed those team jerseys when I was working in the store!
What I am saying is a genuine interest in what a person is selling, and a heavy knowledge of it will go a lot farther than a pushy sales tactic. It's why the company I worked for gave the employees a steep steep discount to get the product themselves so that they could give the customers an honest opinion of the product instead of just a "yeah, this is great, and it's on sale" type of comment.
I know from working in retail that the "hello...wow, nice bag!" at the door is to butter me up for when they come around to show me what they have on the floor. What I can tell the difference between, and appreciate, are the conversations that go farther than that. I'm not saying have a full on hour long conversation with me on the sales floor. (Who can afford that and keep up their numbers?) I'm just saying go a little deeper than the "that color looks great on you" comment.
(And btw, I don't mean you personally, lol!)