It may sound fishy, but our local Costco has carried Coach since they opened their doors a year ago. You can even buy them from time to time on line thru costco.com (watches too).
Coach and Costco!
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It may sound fishy, but our local Costco has carried Coach since they opened their doors a year ago. You can even buy them from time to time on line thru costco.com (watches too).
Costco is not an authorized dealer. Coach is having trouble with it's corporate gift giving accounts. They sell bags to corporations wholesale to be given as corporate gifts. These purses have been then falling into the hands of unauthorized dealers - Costco and the like. Coach has recently shut down this side of their business because it tarnishes the brand to have their bags sold beside 50 lb boxes of cat litter.
^^I just read about that...
But the bags at Costco ARE real. The only thing I would be careful of is to check over the one you are buying... someone COULD purchase the real one and then return a fake if they happened to have the exact same one Costco has in their store... not sure how good the employees at Costco are at authenticating.
But the bags at Costco ARE real. The only thing I would be careful of is to check over the one you are buying... someone COULD purchase the real one and then return a fake if they happened to have the exact same one Costco has in their store... not sure how good the employees at Costco are at authenticating.
If costco buys "gray market" bags, there's no guarantee they're authentic.
If they just buy overstocks from stores (like TJ Maxx does) they are most likely authentic.
Either way, they're not an authorized seller so use due diligence when purchasing
If they just buy overstocks from stores (like TJ Maxx does) they are most likely authentic.
Either way, they're not an authorized seller so use due diligence when purchasing
I don't think Coach is being tarnished in Costco. They sit right next to a couple Louis Vuitton purses. Yep, they carry LV too.
And the LV's were quite authentic as well!
I know I've posted about this many times here, but I've purchased a LOT of handbags from costco and costco.com -- probably around 25 of them. From Coach to Ugg to Marc Jacobs to Fendi to D&G and more. They have ALL been 100% authentic. I wouldn't hesitate for a moment to buy from costco.
ETA: FWIW, I spoke directly with a buyer for handbags one time and she said ALL their bags come directly from the company. I recently read about shoulderbabies said but can't remember where I read it... I just know that costco is a great company and if you decide 6 months from now to return that bag -- they'll take it back. (and I don't work for Costco! I just love them!)
Wildflower I agree! I even bought gift certificates there once and couldn't use them so I took them back and they gave me all my money back, try that some place else. My friend had an elliptical she bought and took it back 1 year later and got all her money back.
I'm 110% sure they are authentic. Costco is just awesome and I love them and their hot dogs probably more than you do!
I'm 110% sure they are authentic. Costco is just awesome and I love them and their hot dogs probably more than you do!
I'm trying to get to teh costco site and it won't load it's doing that with ebay also... grrr.. I want coach!
If costco does sell to corp accounts, they may not be for much longer . . . I found this on the internet a few days ago, and this post reminded me . . . it's interesting that Coach makes reference Corp account distributors and their product getting into the grey market . . .
Breaking News: Coach Exits Corporate Markets
March 07, 2007
From the Incentive Newsletter
By Leo Jakobson
After weeks of speculation and rumor, leather goods maker Coach Inc. announced yesterday that it will no longer sell its products in the corporate special markets channel, citing a need to take more control of its brand.
"The rumor I heard is that transshipping is being done, that Coach products are ending up on the grey market," says Mike Arkes, CEO of Chicago-based Hinda Incentives, a leading fulfillment specialist that carries Coach products. A number of other sources, speaking off the record, told Incentive the same thing.
Arkes says he has also heard Coach does not know exactly who is transshipping its products, and asks, "if that's so, how [does Coach] know it is coming from special markets?" Regardless, having to replace Coach in an award catalog "is not the end of the world," he adds, noting that his company also carries similar leather goods by Dooney & Burke and Kenneth Cole. "The reality is, every item in [Coach's] price point competes with them," he adds, saying incentive participants might also turn to items like a Blu-ray high definition DVD player. Other top handbag manufacturers in the incentive market include Kate Spade and recent entry Furla.
At this point, Hinda is uncertain if Coach will continue to fulfill orders for programs to which it had previously committed. "The question is, are they going to do this professionally," Arkes asks. "Are they going to live up to their commitments, to enable [us] to live up to our commitments? That will be the bottom line."
That is a question Coach is unwilling to answer publicly at this time. When asked, Andrea Resnick, Coach's vice president of investor relations and corporate communications, said the company would not make any comment beyond a general statement it issued by e-mail on Tuesday, March 6. The statement reads, in its entirety: "Over the past several years, as Coach has grown to well over $2 billion in sales, the company has increasingly taken direct control over its global businesses. In keeping with this strategy, Coach is exiting its small corporate accounts business that sells to end users, primarily through distributors. This is being done to ensure that the company has more control over where Coach product is ultimately sold, in order to certify that it is through authorized distribution in image enhancing locations."
Incentive Marketing Association (IMA) Executive Director Karen Renk says Coach "terminated its network of incentive manufacturers representatives" the day before. "The IMA is saddened by Coach's decision," she says, adding "Their strong brand has benefited the corporate gift space, as has their image been enhanced by their presence in the incentive market."
Coach has been a prominent brand in the special markets industry for many years. Last year, Paul Spitzberg, New York-based Coach's vice president/general manager of corporate accounts, was president of the IMA, and he sits on the board of the Foundation for People Performance Management and Measurement, an industry-sponsored research organization at Northwestern university. Coach has also been a sponsor of The Motivation Show in Chicago.
Spitzberg could not be reached for comment. His voicemail says he is "on extended absence as a result of an illness in the family." Nor were calls to other Coach special markets employees returned.
At retail, Coach has become highly protective of its brand, only selling its products through company-owned stores and at select department stores with Coach boutiques, including Bloomingdales, Nordstorm, Lord & Taylor and Macy's.
Breaking News: Coach Exits Corporate Markets
March 07, 2007
From the Incentive Newsletter
By Leo Jakobson
After weeks of speculation and rumor, leather goods maker Coach Inc. announced yesterday that it will no longer sell its products in the corporate special markets channel, citing a need to take more control of its brand.
"The rumor I heard is that transshipping is being done, that Coach products are ending up on the grey market," says Mike Arkes, CEO of Chicago-based Hinda Incentives, a leading fulfillment specialist that carries Coach products. A number of other sources, speaking off the record, told Incentive the same thing.
Arkes says he has also heard Coach does not know exactly who is transshipping its products, and asks, "if that's so, how [does Coach] know it is coming from special markets?" Regardless, having to replace Coach in an award catalog "is not the end of the world," he adds, noting that his company also carries similar leather goods by Dooney & Burke and Kenneth Cole. "The reality is, every item in [Coach's] price point competes with them," he adds, saying incentive participants might also turn to items like a Blu-ray high definition DVD player. Other top handbag manufacturers in the incentive market include Kate Spade and recent entry Furla.
At this point, Hinda is uncertain if Coach will continue to fulfill orders for programs to which it had previously committed. "The question is, are they going to do this professionally," Arkes asks. "Are they going to live up to their commitments, to enable [us] to live up to our commitments? That will be the bottom line."
That is a question Coach is unwilling to answer publicly at this time. When asked, Andrea Resnick, Coach's vice president of investor relations and corporate communications, said the company would not make any comment beyond a general statement it issued by e-mail on Tuesday, March 6. The statement reads, in its entirety: "Over the past several years, as Coach has grown to well over $2 billion in sales, the company has increasingly taken direct control over its global businesses. In keeping with this strategy, Coach is exiting its small corporate accounts business that sells to end users, primarily through distributors. This is being done to ensure that the company has more control over where Coach product is ultimately sold, in order to certify that it is through authorized distribution in image enhancing locations."
Incentive Marketing Association (IMA) Executive Director Karen Renk says Coach "terminated its network of incentive manufacturers representatives" the day before. "The IMA is saddened by Coach's decision," she says, adding "Their strong brand has benefited the corporate gift space, as has their image been enhanced by their presence in the incentive market."
Coach has been a prominent brand in the special markets industry for many years. Last year, Paul Spitzberg, New York-based Coach's vice president/general manager of corporate accounts, was president of the IMA, and he sits on the board of the Foundation for People Performance Management and Measurement, an industry-sponsored research organization at Northwestern university. Coach has also been a sponsor of The Motivation Show in Chicago.
Spitzberg could not be reached for comment. His voicemail says he is "on extended absence as a result of an illness in the family." Nor were calls to other Coach special markets employees returned.
At retail, Coach has become highly protective of its brand, only selling its products through company-owned stores and at select department stores with Coach boutiques, including Bloomingdales, Nordstorm, Lord & Taylor and Macy's.
Paul Spitzberg- The Coach special markets vp was selling into Costco and getting a cut on the backend. Coach inc found out and fired him and the whole team. Everyone lost their jobs because of one greedy sob.
We lost business because of this guy too. How do you sub a coach with any other bag. The way he and coach handled this is completely out of control.
We lost business because of this guy too. How do you sub a coach with any other bag. The way he and coach handled this is completely out of control.
I've never purchased a Coach at Costco but have seen them there occasionally and they have some on line. May stop by on my way home tonight to see if there are any. I buy lots of other things from Costco and their return policy is amazing - no questions asked even without receipts.
I agree that seeing Coach at Costco tarnishes the image. LV too, sorry. I'm glad that Coach is pulling back the reigns and taking more control of their product, they are trying to enter into an even higher-end market now with the legacy & crocodile bags. This only adds to Coach's rep as being on the lower rungs of the high-end designer handbag ladder. Other brands have fallen that way and I don't want that to happen to this wonderful brand.
The only thing I can say about corporate gifts are that it is marked clearly so, with a C.
A couple came in wanting to exchange it, it was the oddest thing, the tag didn't even scan!
Even so, he said he had purchased it, and it was a bit ago, maybe a year.
The item in question? A small hobo in mini c's....
A couple came in wanting to exchange it, it was the oddest thing, the tag didn't even scan!
Even so, he said he had purchased it, and it was a bit ago, maybe a year.
The item in question? A small hobo in mini c's....
I'm not at all a bag snob, I love all kinds of bags. That being said, I have to agree that designer bags being sold at stores other than high end ones, or their own boutiques/outlets isn't necessarily good for their image. If they're trying to present a more elite image of themselves, then seeing the bag at a place like Costco, won't help that. The snobby people who only buy bags because they want something nobody else can have easily, won't buy a bag because it's too readily available. We may think that kind of elitism is disgusting, but it is a fact of life.
Personally, I adore Costco and trust them wholeheartedly. Their return policy is the best I've ever encountered, and I know the designer bags they get are real. They don't get them all that often either, at least not the ones near me, so it isn't like a steady flow of bags all the time. Normally it's limited availability. I may go to Costco tomorrow and see if they have anything.
Personally, I adore Costco and trust them wholeheartedly. Their return policy is the best I've ever encountered, and I know the designer bags they get are real. They don't get them all that often either, at least not the ones near me, so it isn't like a steady flow of bags all the time. Normally it's limited availability. I may go to Costco tomorrow and see if they have anything.
