New ship to home vs ship to store policy?

[Letter]

I always get my purchases - from online or other stores - shipped to the store. To be clear I am ordering everything through my SA. I do this because I once opened a box (luckily I was in store) and it was empty. If I had been at home much harder to get a replacement, prove it had been stolen somewhere before me.

I was told there is a new policy where things purchased from other stores (maybe?) have to be shipped to home not the store. Makes me nervous. Also I think it somehow makes it worse for my SA.

I didn’t quite understand, the store was a little crazy today, does anyone know the details? Can you explain for those of us in the back of the room? 😂

Edit: should have clarified this is in the US

 

[lill_canele]

In my location, I asked to ship items to store in 2021 and they said it’s their policy not to do that. All orders will be shipped to the home. I asked if this was standard and they said yes.

I have definitely had items get “lost” in shipment, most likely stolen. Hermes customer service was wonderful and handled it for me.

I wonder if, in the past, it was up to store management to ship items to home vs store and if now they’re trying to make it consistent across the board.

However, due to my past experience, I no longer order to ship to home. If it’s in-store, I buy, if not and they won’t do a transfer and say they need to ship to my house, then no, I will not order.

 

[dreamlet]

I recently ordered something via my SA that was only available at another store and she said it had to be shipped directly to me. It was shipped 2-day via Fedex and required a signature upon delivery. The only time I have been able to ship to store is when I order something online.

 

[Kimchoi12]

I’m in the US and my SA also said the same thing. Even if I order the items through her at the store, if it’s from another store’s inventory it has to be shipped directly to me at home. If it’s from the web/warehouse it can be shipped to the store.

She couldn’t really explain the rationale other than corporate changed the policy. Something about clients not picking up their items quickly and it’s not fair to others? Not sure what that meant but I assume it could be an allocation/inventory thing?? 🤷‍♀️ I didn’t ask any follow up questions because she seemed really confused and apologetic.

I usually like to have all of my items shipped to the store because I don’t want to hang around the house for Fedex to sign for a package. They don’t even come during a consistent time window so it’s really hard to predict when they’ll be here. 😢 It’s also reassuring to send orders to the store because like previous posters mentioned, what if there’s an issue with the shipment or even the product? I recieved only the left shoe of a shoe order that was shipped from a store before. Thank goodness it was sent to the store directly because that saved me from an awkward return situation.

 

[Tina_Bina]

I understood it as I don’t have to go into the store anymore to order something the store doesn’t have directly in stock. If I text for something and they have to order it from some other store or from the warehouse, I don’t have to come in to use the device and my SA can order and ship it to my home.

 

[Letter]

I think it means no commission for the sa and no sales credit for the store. So they are not going to want to do this. But what’s the difference between buying from another store and transferring from another store?

 

[acrowcounted]

I think it means no commission for the sa and no sales credit for the store. So they are not going to want to do this. But what’s the difference between buying from another store and transferring from another store?

It doesn’t mean that at all. Clients weren’t picking up their items in a timely fashion and the store doesn’t want to be liable for items that legally no longer belong to them (H’s insurance doesn’t cover fully paid items, so if the store is looted and paid packages are taken, H corporate would be on the hook to reimburse the customers).

 

[QuelleFromage]

It doesn’t mean that at all. Clients weren’t picking up their items in a timely fashion and the store doesn’t want to be liable for items that legally no longer belong to them (H’s insurance doesn’t cover fully paid items, so if the store is looted and paid packages are taken, H corporate would be on the hook to reimburse the customers).

Exactly. It's a liability thing and also an inventory thing.

Things transferred from another store for pickup that are already paid for are moved out of one store's inventory and into another, but technically sold so not available to other customers; the receiving store doesn't want to hold them.

We don't seem to do it this way in France, but we also don't pay for store transfers in advance. Items are either paid for remotely and messengered to home, or transferred to the receiving store. I think this is because the item often moves out of one territory (say, Benelux) and into another (say, France).

 

[FrenchNewbie]

I always get my purchases - from online or other stores - shipped to the store. To be clear I am ordering everything through my SA. I do this because I once opened a box (luckily I was in store) and it was empty. If I had been at home much harder to get a replacement, prove it had been stolen somewhere before me.

I was told there is a new policy where things purchased from other stores (maybe?) have to be shipped to home not the store. Makes me nervous. Also I think it somehow makes it worse for my SA.

I didn’t quite understand, the store was a little crazy today, does anyone know the details? Can you explain for those of us in the back of the room? 😂

Edit: should have clarified this is in the US

In my location, I asked to ship items to store in 2021 and they said it’s their policy not to do that. All orders will be shipped to the home. I asked if this was standard and they said yes.

I have definitely had items get “lost” in shipment, most likely stolen. Hermes customer service was wonderful and handled it for me.

I wonder if, in the past, it was up to store management to ship items to home vs store and if now they’re trying to make it consistent across the board.

However, due to my past experience, I no longer order to ship to home. If it’s in-store, I buy, if not and they won’t do a transfer and say they need to ship to my house, then no, I will not order.

I recently ordered something via my SA that was only available at another store and she said it had to be shipped directly to me. It was shipped 2-day via Fedex and required a signature upon delivery. The only time I have been able to ship to store is when I order something online.

I’m in the US and my SA also said the same thing. Even if I order the items through her at the store, if it’s from another store’s inventory it has to be shipped directly to me at home. If it’s from the web/warehouse it can be shipped to the store.

She couldn’t really explain the rationale other than corporate changed the policy. Something about clients not picking up their items quickly and it’s not fair to others? Not sure what that meant but I assume it could be an allocation/inventory thing?? 🤷‍♀️ I didn’t ask any follow up questions because she seemed really confused and apologetic.

I usually like to have all of my items shipped to the store because I don’t want to hang around the house for Fedex to sign for a package. They don’t even come during a consistent time window so it’s really hard to predict when they’ll be here. 😢 It’s also reassuring to send orders to the store because like previous posters mentioned, what if there’s an issue with the shipment or even the product? I recieved only the left shoe of a shoe order that was shipped from a store before. Thank goodness it was sent to the store directly because that saved me from an awkward return situation.

I think there might be an easy solution if you don't want things shipped to your home and prefer to pickup in store: Why not have your SA just transfer items into your store first? Then you can go into the store, pay for them, and take them home the same day.

I send my SA a list of items I'm interested in and my SA transfers them from another store or multiple stores (as a matter of fact, my SA volunteered to do this and encouraged me to ask for whatever I wanted & told me I wasn't obligated to purchase if they didn’t work out for whatever reason). On my most recent visit to the boutique, I purchased items that were transferred from all across the country. I also turned down a few items; and some transferred items are being held until I have time to think on them; no harm, no foul.

This is just my experience, but your SA/SM may have a different outlook or way of doing business.

 

[Dreaming of H]

I think there might be an easy solution if you don't want things shipped to your home and prefer to pickup in store: Why not have your SA just transfer items into your store first? Then you can go into the store, pay for them, and take them home the same day.

I send my SA a list of items I'm interested in and my SA transfers them from another store or multiple stores (as a matter of fact, my SA volunteered to do this and encouraged me to ask for whatever I wanted & told me I wasn't obligated to purchase if they didn’t work out for whatever reason). On my most recent visit to the boutique, I purchased items that were transferred from all across the country. I also turned down a few items; and some transferred items are being held until I have time to think on them; no harm, no foul.

This is just my experience, but your SA/SM may have a different outlook or way of doing business.

Personally, I don't think this is such an easy solution as you describe. Stores are, in general, pretty protective of their merchandise and it might take another store a reasonable amount of capital (political and otherwise) to make a transfer happen. If it's a coveted item, the likelihood the sending store will want to give it up goes down even further. Transferred items need to be taken out of the sending store's inventory and added to the receiving store's inventory. As demand for items increases (RTW comes to mind first), stores are continually less willing to transfer coveted items to other stores, and would rather charge send instead.

Of course you are not obligated to purchased transferred items, but if the items are not popular (say size 42 niche shoes which would be much harder to sell than say a size 37 chypre), then a transfer is much more risky for the receiving store as they might be left with merchandise that will sit stagnant in their inventory. I would not ask a store to transfer in extremely high value or niche items unless I was very serious about purchasing, or, extremely up front with my SA that I'm on the fence, and if it creates an issue for the store absolutely not transfer in the item as I am not completely sure on purchasing.

My store will attempt a transfer if possible. Sometimes stores are simply unwilling to give up an item and if I really want to purchase, a charge send would be the only way. In this case, since my SA would still get the commission either way, it doesn't matter much to me.

This is in the US, and your experiences, as with all H experiences, might vary.

 

[textilegirl]

I get the sense that they’re trying to streamline this process and to take out some of the jockeying that sometimes goes on between boutiques. I’ll bet the SMs aren’t especially pleased insofar as it may initially change their buying strategies at Podium. But customers will get what they want and the SAs will be spared some of the headaches. Additionally, it may change the stock strategy on the website. Just guessing here….

 

[acrowcounted]

Personally, I don't think this is such an easy solution as you describe. Stores are, in general, pretty protective of their merchandise and it might take another store a reasonable amount of capital (political and otherwise) to make a transfer happen. If it's a coveted item, the likelihood the sending store will want to give it up goes down even further. Transferred items need to be taken out of the sending store's inventory and added to the receiving store's inventory. As demand for items increases (RTW comes to mind first), stores are continually less willing to transfer coveted items to other stores, and would rather charge send instead.

Of course you are not obligated to purchased transferred items, but if the items are not popular (say size 42 niche shoes which would be much harder to sell than say a size 37 chypre), then a transfer is much more risky for the receiving store as they might be left with merchandise that will sit stagnant in their inventory. I would not ask a store to transfer in extremely high value or niche items unless I was very serious about purchasing, or, extremely up front with my SA that I'm on the fence, and if it creates an issue for the store absolutely not transfer in the item as I am not completely sure on purchasing.

My store will attempt a transfer if possible. Sometimes stores are simply unwilling to give up an item and if I really want to purchase, a charge send would be the only way. In this case, since my SA would still get the commission either way, it doesn't matter much to me.

This is in the US, and your experiences, as with all H experiences, might vary.

Agreed. Transfers for any kind of even slightly desirable item are nearly impossible these days.

Further complicating this more strict "ship only to home" policy is another policy change I am now hearing. Apparently, stores are now being restricted from phone based, remote-store charge-sends. A client can still charge send from home an item (under $6k) that is currently in stock at their home store. However, if the item is only sourceable via a different store's inventory, the client will need to be physically in person in the store with their SA to process that charge send (and then only to be shipped directly to the clients home). So in other words, remote clients now only have access to the inventory of their home store and remote-store charge sends will now function the say way as SA-processed web orders.

Making the issue even worse, Hermes also seems to be trying to encourage customers to shop only at their most local store. Rumor has it that in order to phone/text/remote order at all, a client will need to have shopped with their SA in person within the last six months. To me this seems like the craziest new rule but other stores (Louis Vuitton) have similar policies so I guess its not that far fetched.

 

[FrenchNewbie]

Personally, I don't think this is such an easy solution as you describe. Stores are, in general, pretty protective of their merchandise and it might take another store a reasonable amount of capital (political and otherwise) to make a transfer happen. If it's a coveted item, the likelihood the sending store will want to give it up goes down even further. Transferred items need to be taken out of the sending store's inventory and added to the receiving store's inventory. As demand for items increases (RTW comes to mind first), stores are continually less willing to transfer coveted items to other stores, and would rather charge send instead.

Of course you are not obligated to purchased transferred items, but if the items are not popular (say size 42 niche shoes which would be much harder to sell than say a size 37 chypre), then a transfer is much more risky for the receiving store as they might be left with merchandise that will sit stagnant in their inventory. I would not ask a store to transfer in extremely high value or niche items unless I was very serious about purchasing, or, extremely up front with my SA that I'm on the fence, and if it creates an issue for the store absolutely not transfer in the item as I am not completely sure on purchasing.

My store will attempt a transfer if possible. Sometimes stores are simply unwilling to give up an item and if I really want to purchase, a charge send would be the only way. In this case, since my SA would still get the commission either way, it doesn't matter much to me.

This is in the US, and your experiences, as with all H experiences, might vary.

Yes, hence why I said "there might be..." and "This is just my experience".

I get that stores (both receiving and sending) are protective & finicky with their inventory, but the OPs were specifically stating that they didn't like the new 'policy' of having to ship directly to their homes instead of picking up in store. So I was simply offering a suggestion for them to get their items in store. Of course I would only ask for a transfer if I have every intention of purchasing, but sometimes things happen that'd preclude you from purchasing (e.g. the item doesn't fit as expected or is the wrong size, the store sent the wrong item [have had this happen], the item arrived damaged or the SA accidentally dropped the item & broke it [have also had this happen, lol], the color in person isn't what you/your SA were expecting, etc.).

As I mentioned before, I never brought it up or asked for transfers & it was never my expectation, but to my surprise my SA has actually insisted/volunteered to bring in items they don't have in physical stock, so apparently they don't have any trouble or see any issue with it. But as stated many times in the forums, YMMV.

 

[lill_canele]

I think there might be an easy solution if you don't want things shipped to your home and prefer to pickup in store: Why not have your SA just transfer items into your store first? Then you can go into the store, pay for them, and take them home the same day.

I send my SA a list of items I'm interested in and my SA transfers them from another store or multiple stores (as a matter of fact, my SA volunteered to do this and encouraged me to ask for whatever I wanted & told me I wasn't obligated to purchase if they didn’t work out for whatever reason). On my most recent visit to the boutique, I purchased items that were transferred from all across the country. I also turned down a few items; and some transferred items are being held until I have time to think on them; no harm, no foul.

This is just my experience, but your SA/SM may have a different outlook or way of doing business.

My Hermes SA, at the time, never had an issue with a transfer if it was possible. But if an item had to be ordered, then per my store's policy, it had to go to the client's address.

I think it can depend on the store management, location, and relationship with the SA.
I have a longstanding and good relationship with YSL management and my SA and I have no issues getting transfers for any of my requests (unless it is being held at a store for another client of course).

Recently, my old Hermes SA left (I only had him for less than 3 years, he was a young gentleman and I did not purchase from him frequently) and my new SA was a former SA of mine at a well acquainted brand for many years. I do not doubt that he would probably make more of an effort to transfer items for me, within his authority of course.

But it does appear that they are either enforcing either a standing policy that items not found in store are shipped to the client's address or making this policy more consistent across the board.
If so, it is what it is. I still stick to my policy of I buy what I can see and touch in person. And if it's not available and non-transferrable, that's okay, there's always something else to buy in the future.

 

[FrenchNewbie]

This is just my experience, but your SA/SM may have a different outlook or way of doing business.

But as stated many times in the forums, YMMV.

I think it can depend on the store management, location, and relationship with the SA.

This!