Influencers and Hermes

[Christofle]

the craziest one I saw was birkintrash. He's an influencer who's built his whole niche on scoring birkin bags and being an expert on birkin bags. He's collaborated with fashionphile and been interviewed for fashion magazines. I was suspect when he claimed he never had to pre spend to get a bag, he just wore a certain perfume and was charismatic *eyeroll*. Turns out not only was he using fakes; he was selling them as well . He made a half-hearted apology saying he was conned into believing the bags were real (really, aren't you supposed to be an expert) and then turned off all comments.

Sounds like their account name checks out in the end.

 

[Love Of My Life]

Isn’t this whole thread depressing? Obviously it’s not H’s fault that some people are dishonest, but surely none of this is good for the brand. I feel like H’s scarcity strategies have really backfired in a unintended way here, risking alienating their “true” client base in favour of flash-in-the-pan influencers and profit-takers.

I think Hermes has been around the block a few times with the issue of "fakes'. This is nothing new
or surprising to them. The brand clearly speaks for itself in multiple categories
The client who has shopped at Hermes likely will continue to do so. There are many clients who would
not even consider the secondary market. They want the experience, etc & perhaps like standing out
to show off their latest acquistions in spite of waiting lists that are a mile long.
Influencers reach out to those that are caught up in all of this & are desperate for a "bag" & resort
to measures that for many of us that are distasteful & unsavory

 

[TC1]

Fashionphile deleted all their posts that were in colab with birkintrash

 

[A bottle of Red]

Fashionphile deleted all their posts that were in colab with birkintrash

I hope whoever bought his fakes were able to get their money back

 

[Veritybelle]

I think Hermes has been around the block a few times with the issue of "fakes'. This is nothing new
or surprising to them. The brand clearly speaks for itself in multiple categories
The client who has shopped at Hermes likely will continue to do so. There are many clients who would
not even consider the secondary market. They want the experience, etc & perhaps like standing out
to show off their latest acquistions in spite of waiting lists that are a mile long.
Influencers reach out to those that are caught up in all of this & are desperate for a "bag" & resort
to measures that for many of us that are distasteful & unsavory

Totally agree. Personally I try to distinguish between the fraudulent market (obviously!), the flipper market that sustains some influencers and the “genuine” resale market (genuine pre-owned, vintage - especially for quality vintage). But the way the so-called “H game” works should assist H to simply fail to sell to flippers and others whose unsavoury practices are known. That’s the nature of the personal relationship in store. H knows and actively decides exactly who it’s selling to - the people who can reach Gen Z as the future of the luxury market. And that’s all fine and important for the growth of the business, but whatever happened to the old principle that it’s easier to keep an existing client than it is to win a new one?

 

[Love Of My Life]

Totally agree. Personally I try to distinguish between the fraudulent market (obviously!), the flipper market that sustains some influencers and the “genuine” resale market (genuine pre-owned, vintage - especially for quality vintage). But the way the so-called “H game” works should assist H to simply fail to sell to flippers and others whose unsavoury practices are known. That’s the nature of the personal relationship in store. H knows and actively decides exactly who it’s selling to - the people who can reach Gen Z as the future of the luxury market. And that’s all fine and important for the growth of the business, but whatever happened to the old principle that it’s easier to keep an existing client than it is to win a new one?

Well, Hermes is just one of many who have put more than half their eggs into that new generation
of client who may buy an item or two & then move on to what ever is"hot" at the moment
What they all seem to forget is that bread & butter client who was loyal for years & has a strong history
with handbags & scarves passed down from generation to generation.
Many a year I can remember a man specifically went into H to buy a scarf for the holidays, Mother's Day,
anniversary, etc & still does. Those clients should never be taken for granted.
While influencers may come & go with their stories that turn out to be "smoke & mirrors, there
are still many of us that will remain loyal in spite of all these shenanigans & that speaks for itself
however you flip that Hermes coin

 

[Veritybelle]

The best influencers are the lovely people on this board. I love seeing how people incorporate H into their personal style!

 

[addiCCted]

Totally agree. Personally I try to distinguish between the fraudulent market (obviously!), the flipper market that sustains some influencers and the “genuine” resale market (genuine pre-owned, vintage - especially for quality vintage). But the way the so-called “H game” works should assist H to simply fail to sell to flippers and others whose unsavoury practices are known. That’s the nature of the personal relationship in store. H knows and actively decides exactly who it’s selling to - the people who can reach Gen Z as the future of the luxury market. And that’s all fine and important for the growth of the business, but whatever happened to the old principle that it’s easier to keep an existing client than it is to win a new one?

I think that’s part of the reason for “prespend” and long wait as well. You can’t really make much of a profit with high prespend ratios and long waits.

Interesting comment about the old existing customers though. Do you think they’re not taking care of them? Just curious.

 

[maxroxxherhandbags]

Here's my dirty secret..Anyone who has seen my posts knows my distain and scorn for 'influencers'.
I cant stand the term and what they represent..
BUT..My dirty secret is..
I choose to watch influencer videos and unboxings on Youtube when I'm on the cross trainer at the gym.
The reason being they make me so angry that I put extra energy into the exercise and before I know it an hour and a thousand calories have gone thank you very much!

 

[Mrs.Z]

Here's my dirty secret..Anyone who has seen my posts knows my distain and scorn for 'influencers'.
I cant stand the term and what they represent..
BUT..My dirty secret is..
I choose to watch influencer videos and unboxings on Youtube when I'm on the cross trainer at the gym.
The reason being they make me so angry that I put extra energy into the exercise and before I know it an hour and a thousand calories have gone thank you very much!

That is hilarious, I cannot wait ten minutes for someone to open the damn box, open the damn box…..how can you talk for 20 minutes about a bag, these videos are misery!

 

[Love Of My Life]

Here's my dirty secret..Anyone who has seen my posts knows my distain and scorn for 'influencers'.
I cant stand the term and what they represent..
BUT..My dirty secret is..
I choose to watch influencer videos and unboxings on Youtube when I'm on the cross trainer at the gym.
The reason being they make me so angry that I put extra energy into the exercise and before I know it an hour and a thousand calories have gone thank you very much!

Lucky your gym doesn't have a "dart board".. LOL.

 

[Veritybelle]

I think that’s part of the reason for “prespend” and long wait as well. You can’t really make much of a profit with high prespend ratios and long waits.

Interesting comment about the old existing customers though. Do you think they’re not taking care of them? Just curious.

I get the idea about pre-spend as a sign of loyalty and commitment to the brand, but I think that ideal does not survive contact with the real world unfortunately. Influencers can easily adopt a strategy to build up high pre-spends by flipping, as we’ve all seen. It’s churn, not “true” pre-spend, but the result is the same. And the existence of the pre-spend actually supports the business of the resellers, which makes a churn strategy viable for influencers and others who are so inclined. Paying a premium on a reseller site for a pristine bag doesn’t seem as personally irrational when you consider how much you might be spending in order to be offered that quota bag by H. It’s probably a wash spend-wise, except that with the reseller you can choose the bag you actually want from a usually wide, known selection, unlike in store, where you might hope to be offered something a bit like what you said you wanted without knowing everything that might be available in the store that day - not remotely a luxury experience for an “old existing customer” who remembers the way H used to be. It all feeds into the same distasteful cycle.

 

[maxroxxherhandbags]

Lucky your gym doesn't have a "dart board".. LOL.

They do have a punch bag but sadly it doesn't have a screen linked to wifi
That said maybe I should just punch it yelling "journey!" "Hermes relationship" "pre-spend!" "quota bag" "Mini bags!" "Hermes game!"
Phew...
Now back to the unboxings...

 

[I AM GPT]

I wish there was an online filter for the terms "prespend" "H journey" "H fairy" "quota bag" and "H game".

 

[SDC2003]

Here's my dirty secret..Anyone who has seen my posts knows my distain and scorn for 'influencers'.
I cant stand the term and what they represent..
BUT..My dirty secret is..
I choose to watch influencer videos and unboxings on Youtube when I'm on the cross trainer at the gym.
The reason being they make me so angry that I put extra energy into the exercise and before I know it an hour and a thousand calories have gone thank you very much!

I am dying over here. I need to get on my treadmill or elliptical before I scroll through sm feeds. Oh so and so influencer who regularly resells prespend in a fb group like it’s some kind of flea market just got a gog c18? Crank that elliptical up to level 10. Oh so and so influencer who regularly resells just got an so invitation or bought a full pave bangle, which we’re all waiting to see get dumped in a fb group at more than 50% off, so she can get a vvip offer? Crank that treadmill speed up to 6.