i'm glad you brought this issue up btw kiari. it was an issue i struggled with before when speaking with my manager. and macys and their sales
and pilot "bags".
first and formost is that when you buy a bag it's because it's the right time, right place and right feeling. there have been times a customer was just walking out the door, serviced by another SA and i approach them. the most memorable one was a lady and her husband, she was interested in the shoulder bag (legacy) and i commented on how it's a fashion exlcusive color, that you won't find it everywhere.
right then her interest grows and her husband comments, how much is that? no, wait, let me guess...five hundred?
i smiled and told him it's really four hundred but if he wants he can give me the extra a hundred i wouldn't mind!
right then there's an experience, for me it was fun talking to them, and hopefully they had fun too (they ended up getting that, the legacy wristlet and a planner)
that's an experience that people who buy at "target" or macys miss. at least the macy in my city because no matter if i'm in uniform or street clothing, my friends and i rarely get any service. it's the same reason why when i pass through the macys and nordys and bloomies i see bags they have but we've completely sold out of.
and when those who buy the real bag, gets that terrific experience it associates that experience with that bag everytime the customer wears it, kwim?
the department stores may have their sales, but we have the "experience" and that is what my manager is banking on. once in a blue moon we get customers that prefer the discount at macy's or bloomies when you open the card. but hey, it's only once, and we actually get customers coming into our store saying, I saw that bag at macys...can you help me order it?
as for the outlet issue, if it was sent from the store, the quality is the same rest assured, but the quantity is limited to how much is left and i can tell you, as well as any SAs, which bags have the least amount produced. don't fall for that annoying SA that tells you every other bag is special edition. if it's a big issue of seeing your bag at the outlet i would make sure it's one that has low quantities. right now the carly i'm eyeing has less then 1,000 stores AND JAX combined. the embossed leather in bordeaux (sp) which i loved..the flap wristlet..had less then 100 when i ordered and i can't even get it anymore.
i know if any of these pieces made it to the outlet before it is out of the store, it's because there was an issue with it and it's refurbished or some manager/SA accidently said they'd take back a bag used and of course, you can't go back on your word, and you can't sell a used bag so it goes to the factory as well.
there are some legacys at outlet or were because if you remember there was an issue with the turnlocks, i think those are the refurbished ones.
for the carly i can't explain but it's one coach fan who found it, i think that's an exception.
so please don't be discouraged!
)
