Coach wants to be the American Louis Vuitton...

[Hyacinth]

The thing is, if the outlets were real outlets --- selling past season bags --- we would not have any issues. And yes, outlet stores generate a lot of money, which is why the company is extremely careful with its business plan.

Also, Coach is struggling with stocks owned by department stores who have the power to discount the items, which damages Coach's brand appeal in the long run. I have seen at my local Macy's that the Coach bags have been removed from the store, probably an effort from Coach to extract its merchandise from Macy's perpetual sales.

It's basic marketing psychology: it's not special anymore if you can find it for cheap all the time and everywhere. Why would anyone buy a bag full price if they know they can get it discounted elsewhere? This is Coach's challenge: find a way to grow its most desirable customers, those who buy items full price.

Ideally, Coach should reduce the number of outlets dramatically (already online outlets have been discontinued), and make past season products a larger part of the outlets' stocks (right now it's 95% "made for outlet" merchandise). A lot of people think they make "good deals" at outlet stores, but the MSRP price is just an illusion, a gimmick to inflate savings.

I buy Louis Vuitton for bags and Gucci for shoes. These are my two fetish brands when it comes to leather goods. But I have bought several items from Coach over the years and I see a great potential for this company to follow the Longchamp model (aspirational luxury with some very fine higher end products, nice mid-range products, quality, service, and a good grip on pricing).

I agree with much of what you've said. Coach has put themselves between a rock and a hard place by depending on the outlets for much of their profits, although the outlet business model also seems to cheapen the brand as well as antagonizing their full-price customers who are told at the boutiques that "the bag you're buying will NEVER be available at the outlets" and presto, two months later there it is. They're also courting trouble by risking a lawsuit similar to what several other midprice brands have been hit with because of artificially-inflated MSRP price tags on the Made For Factory items that have no connection to reality and are considered deceptive.

What I'm curious about is your statement that "online outlets have already been discontinued". The only online Coach outlet I'm familiar with is the "invitation only" FOS Factory Online Sales and those still seem to be active, if not nearly as frequent as they used to be. There was just one last week. As far as I remember, and at my age my memory isn't as dependable as it used to be, the FOS was and is the only online source for Factory Store merchandise. Have you heard any rumors that Coach is planning to discontinue the FOS program?

ETA - It looks like several of us had the same question.

Ther was always only one LEGITIMATE Factory Outlet site, and it's still there. It's only accessible to someone who's registered through Coach specifically for that site, and requires signing in with an ID and password. There were dozens of rip-off sites selling counterfeit "Coach" which could have been confusing to someone who wasn't aware of the problem and how to tell the genuine outlet site from the crooks. Quite a few people got scammed by the fake sites.

 

[fabuleux]

There still is. It is and has always been invitation only, and opens every couple of weeks or more often for a few days.

Oh I see. Interesting...
Is it just "made for factory" items?

 

[fabuleux]

I agree with much of what you've said. Coach has put themselves between a rock and a hard place by depending on the outlets for much of their profits, although the outlet business model also seems to cheapen the brand as well as antagonizing their full-price customers who are told at the boutiques that "the bag you're buying will NEVER be available at the outlets" and presto, two months later there it is. They're also courting trouble by risking a lawsuit similar to what several other midprice brands have been hit with because of artificially-inflated MSRP price tags on the Made For Factory items that have no connection to reality and are considered deceptive.

What I'm curious about is your statement that "online outlets have already been discontinued". The only online Coach outlet I'm familiar with is the "invitation only" FOS Factory Online Sales and those still seem to be active, if not nearly as frequent as they used to be. There was just one last week. As far as I remember, and at my age my memory isn't as dependable as it used to be, the FOS was and is the only online source for Factory Store merchandise. Have you heard any rumors that Coach is planning to discontinue the FOS program?

ETA - It looks like several of us had the same question.

Ther was always only one LEGITIMATE Factory Outlet site, and it's still there. It's only accessible to someone who's registered through Coach specifically for that site, and requires signing in with an ID and password. There were dozens of rip-off sites selling counterfeit "Coach" which could have been confusing to someone who wasn't aware of the problem and how to tell the genuine outlet site from the crooks. Quite a few people got scammed by the fake sites.

First of all... You're name and pic are brilliant!
God I love that show!

I guess I got confused because I remembered an official Coach website for the factory which you could access 24/7. But in any case, I believe that less visible outlets / discounts will results in better results in the long term.

 

[Suzanne B.]

Oh I see. Interesting...
Is it just "made for factory" items?

No. They also have 'deletes', discontinued full retail bags.....though they may not have but a few fp bags some sales, other sales there may be a whole section devoted to FP bags.

 

[fabuleux]

No. They also have 'deletes', discontinued full retail bags.....though they may not have but a few fp bags some sales, other sales there may be a whole section devoted to FP bags.

I have only made my purchases at the boutique. But I have visited the outlet stores and always found only a meager selection of bags from the FP collection.

It will be interesting to see how the brand's strategy continues to evolve!

 

[donutsprinkles]

I went to a newly opened Coach outlet recently to see what was what, at best I hoped to find another day tote like my Park Metro which has coated leather outside and raw suede in the interior. I was so disappointed at how things were more expensive than the Semi Annual Sale at the full price boutique for items made of plastic-like leather. We're talking $200 fabric wallets and such with possibly faux leather bits. If the Coach outlet I first visited 4 years ago had been like this, I would've never purchased Coach outlet or gone into a boutique. I would probably be decked out in Fossil, Frye and MK or something instead.

I don't see how this strategy will work for them in the long term as the quality declines and less deletes end up at these newly opened outlets.

 

[Hyacinth]

First of all... You're name and pic are brilliant!
God I love that show!

I guess I got confused because I remembered an official Coach website for the factory which you could access 24/7. But in any case, I believe that less visible outlets / discounts will results in better results in the long term.

A few years ago Coach did have an official selling site on Ebay, but if I'm remembering correctly it was a Flash Sale setup and either at the same time or on the same model as the invitation-only Factory Outlet Sales. They may have sold the same items, but I never paid much attention. It also required pre-registration and log-in and was only active for short periods just like the non-Ebay Factory Online Sales. I think the Ebay-connected version only lasted about a year. Ironically, a surprising number of buyers left Feedback complaining that the items they bought were fake.

There's an example of the Ebay sale page, maybe that's the site you're thinking of:

 

[Suzanne B.]

I have only made my purchases at the boutique. But I have visited the outlet stores and always found only a meager selection of bags from the FP collection.

It will be interesting to see how the brand's strategy continues to evolve!

The same with my outlet. The only time they've had a large selection of deletes was a few years ago when coach had the huge Legacy dump.

 

[whateve]

A few years ago Coach did have an official selling site on Ebay, but if I'm remembering correctly it was a Flash Sale setup and either at the same time or on the same model as the invitation-only Factory Outlet Sales. They may have sold the same items, but I never paid much attention. It also required pre-registration and log-in and was only active for short periods just like the non-Ebay Factory Online Sales. I think the Ebay-connected version only lasted about a year. Ironically, a surprising number of buyers left Feedback complaining that the items they bought were fake.

There's an example of the Ebay sale page, maybe that's the site you're thinking of:
View attachment 3425021 View attachment 3425022

I remember it. I remember they charged shipping for each item so it was cheaper buying on FOS. I'm fairly certain they were active at the same time.

 

[gr8onteej]

I have only made my purchases at the boutique. But I have visited the outlet stores and always found only a meager selection of bags from the FP collection.

It will be interesting to see how the brand's strategy continues to evolve!

Depends on when you visit and what outlet you visit. I was at my outlet and they had one entire area (big room) of fp deletes.

 

[crazyforcoach09]

Depends on when you visit and what outlet you visit. I was at my outlet and they had one entire area (big room) of fp deletes.

I agree. Its the store. I am thinking of getting the fringe nomad from the outlet.

 

[CaptainPicard]

When you flood the market with anything it losses it's value. This is true of anything from baseball cards to artwork. I have a big box of baseball cards in the garage from the 80's/90's..when collecting was hot. Now, even the rookie cards I paid $100+ for are absolutely worthless. Why, they produced way too many, millions of cards, so lots of people have them in boxes in their attic. With artwork some artists produce reproductions yet they limit the number they produce, like a 75 piece limited edition. That way they can hold the price higher on those 75. I also have another line of collectibles that lost its value because the creator ended mass producing and making too many. Now I cannot get what I paid for them.
Coach will never be able to really compete with LV. I can resell my LV bags for a very good price. I have a White Monogram Multicolore Speedy that I could easily sell for $1000+ dollars. I had no trouble selling my Balanciaga black City Bag for $800 and it had a little wear on it. If I were to try and sell my Coach bags, LOL, I would not get a very good return if I could sell them at all. Ever look through Ebay, there are tons of Coach bags...junk-a-rama. Marketing higher priced bags is not going to save Coach, the damage is already done and the brand name imo has sustained irreversible damage. I was looking at the Rogue whiplash bag for $1200, I like it a lot but in the end I tell myself I could some more $ to that and get another LV, which will hold its value.

 

[Hobbsy]

When you flood the market with anything it losses it's value. This is true of anything from baseball cards to artwork. I have a big box of baseball cards in the garage from the 80's/90's..when collecting was hot. Now, even the rookie cards I paid $100+ for are absolutely worthless. Why, they produced way too many, millions of cards, so lots of people have them in boxes in their attic. With artwork some artists produce reproductions yet they limit the number they produce, like a 75 piece limited edition. That way they can hold the price higher on those 75. I also have another line of collectibles that lost its value because the creator ended mass producing and making too many. Now I cannot get what I paid for them.
Coach will never be able to really compete with LV. I can resell my LV bags for a very good price. I have a White Monogram Multicolore Speedy that I could easily sell for $1000+ dollars. I had no trouble selling my Balanciaga black City Bag for $800 and it had a little wear on it. If I were to try and sell my Coach bags, LOL, I would not get a very good return if I could sell them at all. Ever look through Ebay, there are tons of Coach bags...junk-a-rama. Marketing higher priced bags is not going to save Coach, the damage is already done and the brand name imo has sustained irreversible damage. I was looking at the Rogue whiplash bag for $1200, I like it a lot but in the end I tell myself I could some more $ to that and get another LV, which will hold its value.

I have never bought a bag with thoughts of how much I'll get when I sell it. I buy bags because I like them. There isn't a handbag brand out there that is a lucrative investment. I invest $ where it makes money, handbags isn't it.

 

[Purse FanGirl]

All it takes is one big oops and your expensive bag drops in value. I look at it this way; I buy what I love, lately only 1941 due to top quality leathers, take as best care of them as I can, and hope I don't have an irreversible oops. If I'm lucky, the girls in my family end up with a limited edition to treasure that brings them pleasure and fond memories.

As a sidenote, every Louie I own has torn or bent. My classic Coaches are still a treasure.
As Hobsy says , "I call it collecting"[emoji7]

 

[CaptainPicard]

The point is Quality and the name brand holds it's value, Coach does not. I do not buy bags with resale in mind as you wanted to indicate , however it is nice that if a time comes and I want to clean out my closet from time to time I can get something back should I sell a bag rather then just sending it to a thrift store, which is what I'd have to do with my Coach bags. It's like the difference between a Ford and a Mercedes.....sorry I won't pay Mercedes prices for a Ford product. I have about 15 Coach bags in my closet and I rather regret all the money I put into them, all bought at Boutique most with PCE and many were later to be found at Outlet after I paid full price at Boutique..other then my most favored denim tote which is probably the only one that I could get something for as it sold quick and was selling on Ebay for double the original cost shortly after release and sell out