my always rejected kelly and birkin shopping! experience

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#46
djmm said:
Sometimes I don't quite get Hermes' business strategy. Do they purposely make the Hermes to be unnecessarily hard to obtain to maintain this 'exclusivity' feel?
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Hermes is not exclusive. Hermes is an illusion of exclusiveness.

It is an art that Hermes - and from what I have seen and heard from friends and my own experiences - only Hermes has perfected.

And it has served them very well for decades. It doesn't seem to have been hurting their bottom line at all; the only change I see is that demand has shifted from the West to the East. So instead of changing their marketing tactics, they just apply it elsewhere.

Plus, let's face it. Part of the reason why Hermes' profits are through the roof is because people need to buy all the small little knick knacks just to get a Birkin/Kelly. How many people, if they could just waltz in and buy a Birkin off the shelf, no drama, no games, no "pre-requisites", would return to buy other things like the scarves, clothes, small leather goods? Not many. And that would definitely hurt Hermes' bottom line.

So while occasionally you find a great SA/SM who does not play games (especially if you are new to the store), most of the time they need to uphold this illusion of exclusiveness - and the best way to do it is to be snobby (and withhold the most sought after carrot!)
 
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#47
buy something not popular like porcelain , play card
before asking for birkin
go in afternoon, SA are more feel and relax
my experience is i went to 2 nd floor of FSH and buy a play card
i treat it as a bait to ask
the SA is so nice and help me to check.
but no birkin on that day
next day, the SA is transfered from home deparment to bag department
she is happy to help me to place a podium order
3 months later, i got my birkin
 
#48
My SA doesn't play games with me. And really, some of Hermes' items are really really nice and you'd be hard pressed to find similar quality from other brands, they don't really need to do that to sell the items. I am also not quite sure if they do this 'exclusivity plot' to indirectly force customers to buy something else (other small items first) because:

Take us for example, We think Hermes scarves are best one in the market (very pretty, nice theme, excellent quality, tons of colour options, etc) and we will still buy the scarves from time to time regardless whether we plan to buy Birkin or not.

And also I don't think those people who buy Birkin will just run away and stop buying Hermes stuff altogether as soon as they got their Birkins. The ones who buy Birkins are usually Hermes loyal fans (who else in their right mind would pay 10K for a bag unless they're fans) and they will still buy other Hermes stuff regularly. So they got nothing to worry about in terms of selling non-Birkin/Kelly stuffs.

So if Hermes really is doing this for a reason, I can't quite get what their reason is. But I think it's just the store managers who try to get as much sale as possible for their shops. But then again as a store manager, wouldn't you think excellent customer service and building strong relationship with your customers work better than cherrypicking your customers? Because you already have this excellent products that you don't really need to hardsell so much, so in order to get the sales figure going, all you need to do is maintain your relationship and hope that you'll get more new customers because your customers recommend others to go to your shop to get the items. And if you're really nice and sweet and really know your product, it's easy to sell things to your customers even if they don't really need it. :D

But I don't know, they're the managers, not me. I'm just a guy who appreciate fine things.
 
#49
i have to agree with djmm. anyone who are willing to spend thousands on a bag has to be a loyal fan. based on my experiences so far, i think each store is afraid if best sellers are only the birkins or kellys and therefore "forcing" new customers to purchased other items before getting their dream bag. me, for example, i found it quite shocking that i was required to purchase clothings for a certain amount before i could get a birkin or kelly.

honestly i'm more of a bag person. if that SA required me to purchase bags or wallets, sure i would be more than happy to do so. but for me to spend thousands on clothings, i don't know.. for me is a no i guess

the SA at padua store was extremely helpful and kind when he assisted me and i immediately purchased other things other than the lindy from him.

same goes with the SA at rome store. he treated my husband nicely when he went there alone. when we went there the next day, he assisted us nicely again and was more than happy to bring the lindy out (the one he showed my husband the previous day) and happy to answer questions regarding the kelly lakis on display. he even let me modeled it.
adding to my satisfaction, he even help us to ask the manager if i can purchase the bag since it was the only one the store has (normally it's not for sale?)
and it wasn't long before i bagged the lakis home (finally!! will upload the picture when i got back home from this trip)
again, immediately i purchased things from him for two days in a row now. and am thinking of purchasing another bag from him.

if only hermes pays attention to great customer service, i'm sure there will be a lot more fans around the world who would be more than happy to purchase their items. too bad! they worry too much about other things that they forgot the most important things in business : customer service and happy customers
 
#50
djmm said:
My SA doesn't play games with me. And really, some of Hermes' items are really really nice and you'd be hard pressed to find similar quality from other brands, they don't really need to do that to sell the items. I am also not quite sure if they do this 'exclusivity plot' to indirectly force customers to buy something else (other small items first) because:

Take us for example, We think Hermes scarves are best one in the market (very pretty, nice theme, excellent quality, tons of colour options, etc) and we will still buy the scarves from time to time regardless whether we plan to buy Birkin or not.

And also I don't think those people who buy Birkin will just run away and stop buying Hermes stuff altogether as soon as they got their Birkins. The ones who buy Birkins are usually Hermes loyal fans (who else in their right mind would pay 10K for a bag unless they're fans) and they will still buy other Hermes stuff regularly. So they got nothing to worry about in terms of selling non-Birkin/Kelly stuffs.

So if Hermes really is doing this for a reason, I can't quite get what their reason is. But I think it's just the store managers who try to get as much sale as possible for their shops. But then again as a store manager, wouldn't you think excellent customer service and building strong relationship with your customers work better than cherrypicking your customers? Because you already have this excellent products that you don't really need to hardsell so much, so in order to get the sales figure going, all you need to do is maintain your relationship and hope that you'll get more new customers because your customers recommend others to go to your shop to get the items. And if you're really nice and sweet and really know your product, it's easy to sell things to your customers even if they don't really need it. :D

But I don't know, they're the managers, not me. I'm just a guy who appreciate fine things.
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Not totally true... A Birkin/Kelly is (unfortunately) seen as a status symbol quite often so a lot of people do purchase it simply for the status they think it conveys.

A lot of people I know make a hooha over a Birkin simply because they know it's 10k+ and has a long waiting list, so when they see someone carry one, they make an issue out of it, thinking the owner is some sort of extremely rich VIP.

A lot of the ladies here are real H fans, and they don't mind paying for all the other stuff in the store because they get true and genuine pleasure out of using them. But let's not forget that tPFers are not the only H customers in the world - there are plenty out there who may or may not love H as a whole, like we do.
 
#51
pyrexia said:
Not totally true... A Birkin/Kelly is (unfortunately) seen as a status symbol quite often so a lot of people do purchase it simply for the status they think it conveys.

A lot of people I know make a hooha over a Birkin simply because they know it's 10k+ and has a long waiting list, so when they see someone carry one, they make an issue out of it, thinking the owner is some sort of extremely rich VIP.

A lot of the ladies here are real H fans, and they don't mind paying for all the other stuff in the store because they get true and genuine pleasure out of using them. But let's not forget that tPFers are not the only H customers in the world - there are plenty out there who may or may not love H as a whole, like we do.
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Ah those, I completely forgot - just like how many people purchase Rolex because it's Rolex, and the real motive is so that people know they just spend big $$$ on something. I wonder the proportion of those who really appreciate Birkin compared to those who got it for status symbol alone. But regardless, SAs shouldn't play games with their customers.

If I want to get a Birkin and an SA told me to buy several items first before I am 'allowed' to get it, I'd probably leave the store and go to other boutique which has a more pleasant attitude. The thing is some of us don't mind to be treated like this, that's why the attitude is still there.

PS Anilin - I have a solution for you if you met one of those SAs that forces you to buy clothings/random stuff before you can even see the Birkin. Just buy those darn clothings, get the Birkins, and then return them the next day for store credit that you can use to buy more bags or scarves. Evil I know, but I think some snobbish SA deserves it. :D
 
#54
really? i don't even know we can return the things that we've purchased and get a store credit.
does that actually work? do you have to return it to the same store ?


djmm said:
PS Anilin - I have a solution for you if you met one of those SAs that forces you to buy clothings/random stuff before you can even see the Birkin. Just buy those darn clothings, get the Birkins, and then return them the next day for store credit that you can use to buy more bags or scarves. Evil I know, but I think some snobbish SA deserves it. :D
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#55
anilin3 said:
really? i don't even know we can return the things that we've purchased and get a store credit.
does that actually work? do you have to return it to the same store ?
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Ready to wear cannot be returned for obvious reasons, and most stores do not take things back. Especially in Asia, and certainly not in exchange for a birkin.

DJMM, please don't advise other members to play tricks with Hermes... The returns policy are for loyal customers who decided against a purchase, if people start abusing this, Hermes will stop it altogether. Taking things back is at the full discretion of the Hermes store....
 
#56
nyyparis said:
i heard that too, no comssionion for birkin and kelly
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Not sure about Paris, but all other store I know are given a higher quota of birkins if they sell non Kelly and non birkins. Staff are therefore rewarded based on this matrix. Which is why some stores can insist that you buy other things before being offered a birkin.

In some stores only the manager can approve the sale of a birkin, and a good store manager is one that can use this to his advantage.
 
#57
djmm said:
Ah those, I completely forgot - just like how many people purchase Rolex because it's Rolex, and the real motive is so that people know they just spend big $$$ on something. I wonder the proportion of those who really appreciate Birkin compared to those who got it for status symbol alone. But regardless, SAs shouldn't play games with their customers.

If I want to get a Birkin and an SA told me to buy several items first before I am 'allowed' to get it, I'd probably leave the store and go to other boutique which has a more pleasant attitude. The thing is some of us don't mind to be treated like this, that's why the attitude is still there.

PS Anilin - I have a solution for you if you met one of those SAs that forces you to buy clothings/random stuff before you can even see the Birkin. Just buy those darn clothings, get the Birkins, and then return them the next day for store credit that you can use to buy more bags or scarves. Evil I know, but I think some snobbish SA deserves it. :D
Click to expand...

It's a bit naive to think that you can buy RTW one day and then waltz in and buy a Birkin of your dreams within the next few days and then turn around and return all the RTW......don't think that's going to happen any time soon.
 
#59
djmm said:
PS Anilin - I have a solution for you if you met one of those SAs that forces you to buy clothings/random stuff before you can even see the Birkin. Just buy those darn clothings, get the Birkins, and then return them the next day for store credit that you can use to buy more bags or scarves. Evil I know, but I think some snobbish SA deserves it. :D
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If you do this, trust me, the store WILL know it and notice it, and they will probably take action to ensure it doesn't happen in future (i.e. not sell you a Birkin even after you've purchased a lot of other stuff)
 
#60
Crackberry said:
are you saying they wont receive commission or bonuses if they sell birkins or kellys?
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I think another thread addressed this.

They DO get commissions on EVERYTHING, including Bs and Ks. For Bs and Ks, the commission is pooled and shared by all the SAs (and sometimes SM too) so no one SA gets the total commission from the sale of a B.
 
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