Hermes Price Increase 2012 ??
- Thread starter orangeboxaddict
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Hi! All! This is NOT a nice new year's surprise from Hermes! I do not calculate per cents very easily but to me anything more than the price of raw materials increase bothers me--especially because the artisans did not receive a cost of living increase this year. But perhaps I am a bit more political than most Hermes consumers. And I also know the prices of the raw materials such as cashmere, silk, and cuir (leathers).
I did not even ask the price of my special order 35 Birkin in December---my equivalent of ostrich sticking its head in the sand--but it clearly will be more expensive then my last one!
I have always been primarily a leather client and silk and cashmere scarves and parfums and all have gone up too much in my opinion.
Close to GBP600 on a Kelly ring is definitely a bit too much!! I can have a nice little antique art deco piece of jewellry for that.
But again, maybe they are trying to catch up with what the re-sellers are charging! And the law of supply and demand in a bad economy may weed out more clients than they anticipate. Only time shall tell. But not at all happy with any of these increases!
Good luck to all!
Hi everyone,
I picked up my solid silver CDC in London today. The store was 1 hour from closing early for the new year celebrations in the city. If I had waited until Monday to purchase, I would be paying £2550 instead of the £2140 I payed today!!!!. I don't know about the bags and scarves but the SA confirmed it would be 10% for jewelry. I saw the new price tag that he was preparing to put on to the CDC.
Just in the nick of time!
I am down in Brighton and between Christmas Eve and Monday 2 Jan the train schedule to London was so horrible---running an all Sunday schedule with some bus substitutions for trains---that took my train ride to London up to a 3-4 hour round trip---I did not even go up for the Haroods or Selfridges sales! So now I am sorry because when I went in to pick up my scarf yesterday (Wed 4 Jan) that had come in before Christmas at Selfridges, I had to pay the NEW higher price! Grrr! I must admit that I do NOT think increasing prices on items that are already in store/in boutiques is well 'kosher' or fair or a good client relationship practice. I do know that when I worked with Saks Fifth Ave and Bergdorf and Macys in USA and with Liberty in London there was a USA law that protected the consumer from any price increase on merchandise already in stock at the store----bras, coats, Ferragamo shoes, etc. Somehow I doubt that anyone even knows if these lawas are still in existence or enforceable---much to the wow of the consumers! Not all lovers of Hermes are billionaires---especially now that I am retired I do not buy as much as I used to and I would guess that some of the younger members of this forum are saving up for their first Birkins or their first exotic or RTW. So to all of us a GBP 600 increase is definitely a bit much to take for a ring and GBP400 for your bracelet seem very high. And I actually only paid for the scarf with the higher price because they had ordered it for me and held it---but I did tell my SA and the Selfridge Hermes manager that to use the British phrase, that charging me this new higher price was just not too 'cricket'! Sigh!!!
So maybe they prefer the newer clients with the comic book designs on the scarves?? If I want an Andy Warhol tomato soup can on my scarf I know what street vendor from whom to buy it, when I buy Hermes I am much mmore classic.
Good luck to all.
I really hope the price increase on bags isn't too high as I've barley just saved enough for my 1st birkin and I'm not in a position to buy any others after this one! This will be my one and only for a very very long time!!
I do really hope its not too much of an increase as its hard enough being able to afford one especially when you don't earn a lot of money!
I do really hope its not too much of an increase as its hard enough being able to afford one especially when you don't earn a lot of money!
totally agree with you there expertess!! any price increase should be applied to new inventory rather than those already in stores - some of the enamel bracelets i have seen are stamped M!! but i guess if they have different prices their price scanning/inventory system may not work? (not sure how it works in retail) and they will have to explain to every customer why the same items have a few different prices (if the store has inventory from a few years ago)!
and i do totally understand your frustration with london travels during the festive break!!! it is not the most efficient train network compared to their european counterparts!!
I love many of the products Hermes produces, but their company practices - not so much. I am not talking about their price increases - that is just good business practice. In the not that distant past, only the very wealthy were able to routinely purchase from Hermes, and the bourgeoisie were able to purchase a very few items after saving, and would pass those items down the generations. If the pricing of hermes is affordable for relatively normal high schoolers or university students (albeit by saving their pocket money/babysitting money for several years), it is not expensive enough for their brand image. If any z list reality start can walk in and purchase H items, it is not expensive enough for their brand image. And brand image is everything.
Has anyone noticed that the more H increases their prices, the more demand there is for their products? Why? Brand Image. Their price increases will continue until people stop lapping up their products - that will be the message to Corporate that the prices are now high enough. They WANT H prices to be out of reach for 99.8% of the population, as do most luxury houses. If not, they stop being an aspirational good and lose their allure.
The corporate practices I dislike are the frankly poor customer service which many people talk about here. There was a HUGE hiccup with an anniversary present DH purchased for me on the website - one which was not rectified for over a month in spite of much to-ing and fro-ing. Despite the fact that the fault lay clearly with H.com, there was no apology and they did not even do the courtesy of covering shipping (which any other company would do). Additionally, their IT is laughably 20th century (and not even up to 1990s standard!).
The problem for me is that if the price is trying to keep up with their exclusive image, their customer service should also do the same.
Has anyone noticed that the more H increases their prices, the more demand there is for their products? Why? Brand Image. Their price increases will continue until people stop lapping up their products - that will be the message to Corporate that the prices are now high enough. They WANT H prices to be out of reach for 99.8% of the population, as do most luxury houses. If not, they stop being an aspirational good and lose their allure.
The corporate practices I dislike are the frankly poor customer service which many people talk about here. There was a HUGE hiccup with an anniversary present DH purchased for me on the website - one which was not rectified for over a month in spite of much to-ing and fro-ing. Despite the fact that the fault lay clearly with H.com, there was no apology and they did not even do the courtesy of covering shipping (which any other company would do). Additionally, their IT is laughably 20th century (and not even up to 1990s standard!).
The problem for me is that if the price is trying to keep up with their exclusive image, their customer service should also do the same.
Too bad that my SO will not arrive before the end of the month before the price increase. I hope the price increase will be less than $200 per bag.
All the manufacturers have jacked up their prices on handbags and accessories, not just Hermes. Chanel seems to be leading the pack, don't know what the % is but the new upcoming prices are way over the top. With the price of their blazers now the same as a birkin, you've got to wonder where it will end?