Spend threshold for B/K/C

[lala_retro]

I'm not sure if we'll ever go back to pre-pandemic ratios. I suspect demand is always going to be very high, similar to luxury watches even when demand "drops", it'll just be a matter of 2x vs. 3 or 4x retail on the secondary market. H's main customer base is typically less affected by recessions. Oh and Chanel's relentless price increases is certainly not helping either. I hope I'm wrong tho!

I feel like the current average ratio is partly inflated by the influx of resellers and influencers to H in the past 2 years, who are willing to drop a bigger spend in the short term for views and bags to flip, but are less impervious to economic downturns than H's true core clientele. There was also a huge increase in brand awareness and popularity of H in China after the drama Nothing But Thirty aired, leading to increased stock diversion to the Chinese market and consequent decrease in stock everywhere else. There are reports in country that the value of B/Ks in the second hand market is dropping pretty drastically in China, now that all sectors of the economy are feeling the squeeze from ongoing zero-covid lockdowns. Maybe these factors combined will eventually lower the ratio, who knows.

 

[Bentley1]

Yeah pre pandemic seems to have been such a wildly different world in terms of shopping at Hermes. Unfortunately, I was a die hard Chanel fanatic since about 2008, so I totally missed the days when Hermes QB, amongst other items, were “easy” to obtain. I was only mildly interested in Hermes starting around 2014-15. So on vacation in Vegas in 2015,I purchased a Jige clutch just on a whim at the Crystals boutique. Then i just casually asked the SA how it works to wishlist for a Birkin. At that time I guess they had something of a “wishlist.” She took out this little form and asked me to write down my contact info and also which colors etc I’d be interested in. I was very unfamiliar w Hermes colors, I just remember putting black, gray and I think that’s it lol
I paid & left. Literally later that afternoon I got a voicemail from the SA asking me if I was interested in a Birkin that had become available. So I went in with my husband the next day & she wasn’t even in another rude SA very begrudgingly showed us the bag & she made SURE to let us know that it was turned down by a VIP & that’s the only reason it’s available lol I meannnn? It wasn’t shrink wrapped, so I believed her, but who says that.
Anyway when she took it out, I really disliked the shade of gray. It was really dark & had GHW at that time I was a Palladium/white metal lover. I just didn’t like the combo & I wasn’t a huge Hermes fan at the time, so it was easy to turn down. Looking back now, I wonder if that dark grey was Etain? Bc present day, I would take an Etain and I love ghw now. All that to say I had pretty low Prespend having only purchased the jige & offered a B same day as walk-in shopper.
I know this type of offer still happens these days, but obviously isn’t the norm like it seems to have been.

 

[Buildingprofile]

Yeah pre pandemic seems to have been such a wildly different world in terms of shopping at Hermes. Unfortunately, I was a die hard Chanel fanatic since about 2008, so I totally missed the days when Hermes QB, amongst other items, were “easy” to obtain. I was only mildly interested in Hermes starting around 2014-15. So on vacation in Vegas in 2015,I purchased a Jige clutch just on a whim at the Crystals boutique. Then i just casually asked the SA how it works to wishlist for a Birkin. At that time I guess they had something of a “wishlist.” She took out this little form and asked me to write down my contact info and also which colors etc I’d be interested in. I was very unfamiliar w Hermes colors, I just remember putting black, gray and I think that’s it lol
I paid & left. Literally later that afternoon I got a voicemail from the SA asking me if I was interested in a Birkin that had become available. So I went in with my husband the next day & she wasn’t even in another rude SA very begrudgingly showed us the bag & she made SURE to let us know that it was turned down by a VIP & that’s the only reason it’s available lol I meannnn? It wasn’t shrink wrapped, so I believed her, but who says that.
Anyway when she took it out, I really disliked the shade of gray. It was really dark & had GHW at that time I was a Palladium/white metal lover. I just didn’t like the combo & I wasn’t a huge Hermes fan at the time, so it was easy to turn down. Looking back now, I wonder if that dark grey was Etain? Bc present day, I would take an Etain and I love ghw now. All that to say I had pretty low Prespend having only purchased the jige & offered a B same day as walk-in shopper.
I know this type of offer still happens these days, but obviously isn’t the norm like it seems to have been.

I'm a relatively new member, and what fascinates me most is how I'll feel when I look back at these threads in ten years' time. Will we all regret not having gotten the neon yellow Bridado backpack on H.com when it was not a quota bag?

 

[Fixxi]

I'm a relatively new member, and what fascinates me most is how I'll feel when I look back at these threads in ten years' time. Will we all regret not having gotten the neon yellow Bridado backpack on H.com when it was not a quota bag?

Wouldn't  that be funny haha
...*quietly puts in cart*

 

[_kiki119_]

Pre-pandemic ppl were also getting SOs for less than 2:1 spend. Good ol' days! Things are very different now.

SOs has shifted slightly earlier this year… many SOs were offered to newer clients to “make up” lack of stock/qb. I was offered one that has little spent since i got my 1st qb in may 2021… and still patiently waiting for my 2nd qb

 

[smoothsailor]

I think the quota ratio is also reaching new highs due to certain customer’s mentality that they can get a quota bag faster with higher prespend.

I think it’s becoming excessive and obsessive.

 

[acrowcounted]

It's not how it works in any boutique I shop at in the US, UK, or EU. I'd say the 1:1, 2:1, or 3:1 thing is more like an average. Anyone who says prespend is 40% less for a Mini Kelly in Epsom than for a Birkin 35 in Barenia is, well, going to be disappointed, even though those bags are far apart in price. Any more discussion of this should be in the shopping forum's appropriate thread

While I now understand what you are saying, I think it’s still built into the ratios that we use and the prespend is often quoted as a “for that type of bag” measure. I think we all would agree that a spend of a little less than 1:1 for a B35 (~13,000 USD) seems a fair expectation while a spend of 3-4:1 for a mini kelly (~30,000 USD) is common. No informed person would, for example, say that a 1:1 spend for a mini kelly in the USA is an easy score. At the end of the day, the prespend ratios are an H community thing to get around currency conversions and longer numbers (in my mind it is just a blanket units of 10,000 for ease of comprehension) and not endorsed by Hermes themselves in any way. And since it’s not a tiggering factor, it doesn’t really matter if 4:1 for a mini kelly means 8800x4 or 10000x4 it’s all relatively the same, ie spend a lot and keep waiting!

 

[QuelleFromage]

The thing about "prespend" is that it is this "holy grail" that people attach too much to IMO. The ratios, honestly, are in the mind of the buyer, because it matters just as much how often you buy, how long you've been working with a boutique, and which categories you're spending in. The individual SMs also vary wildly.

I have an SO slot every year at a boutique that's not even in my home country, in a city I haven't had a home in for five years, because I have been shopping there since 2012 with the same SA. They text me whenever a "quota" bag that is to my taste shows up. At other boutiques, no longer being local can cause offers to dry up, and fast - this SM just works differently.

Meanwhile I regularly spend quite a lot at another store that is notoriously "difficult/competitive", in an area where I DO have homes and am considered local, and have only been offered ONE SO and a few "quota" bags there.

I offer this caution because I see people get very frustrated after a certain amount of spend, especially because they have heard "spend 3x and you'll get a B25", and it's important to understand the other factors that go into offers of very coveted bags. Most important rule.....there are no rules, and attempting to apply a formula often ends up in said frustration.

 

[waterlily112]

The thing about "prespend" is that it is this "holy grail" that people attach too much to IMO. The ratios, honestly, are in the mind of the buyer, because it matters just as much how often you buy, how long you've been working with a boutique, and which categories you're spending in. The individual SMs also vary wildly.

I have an SO slot every year at a boutique that's not even in my home country, in a city I haven't had a home in for five years, because I have been shopping there since 2012 with the same SA. They text me whenever a "quota" bag that is to my taste shows up. At other boutiques, no longer being local can cause offers to dry up, and fast - this SM just works differently.

Meanwhile I regularly spend quite a lot at another store that is notoriously "difficult/competitive", in an area where I DO have homes and am considered local, and have only been offered ONE SO and a few "quota" bags there.

I offer this caution because I see people get very frustrated after a certain amount of spend, especially because they have heard "spend 3x and you'll get a B25", and it's important to understand the other factors that go into offers of very coveted bags. Most important rule.....there are no rules, and attempting to apply a formula often ends up in said frustration.

Just using B25, basic togo for example (no exotics or diamond/RGHW), I've seen people get offered one between 0.7:1 to 5:1 ratio at the same boutique, whereas the norm tend to be around 1:1, purely looking at statistics here. Depends on where your shop at and your relationship with the SA & SM, YMMV. And then there is me who have gotten multiple B/K's in EU with barely buying anything of significant value, but different system there so pre-spend isn't relevant. I don't see you mention shopping in Asia yet, I have. The SA's tend to be very straightforward and vocal about pre-spend, doesn't mean that they'll only offer QBs to the highest spenders, but they do want to give their regular clients a realistic expectation on the minimum spend to be considered for an offer, nothing guaranteed. They even told me aunt that whenever she receives a QB they reset the pre-spend before she gets another offer. Different culture and system there because of of the crazy high demand and the boutiques are oversaturated with high spending clients.

But I do agree with you that when you find a SA that you can really connect with, pre-spend isn't that important. Until we all find that special SA who's willing to give us SO every single year, people will have to continue to build that relationship with the SA, and part of the process require spending money or else it's pretty inconsiderate to take up hours of the SA's time to just chitchat and not buy anything. I think when you've shopped at H long enough, pre-spend isn't that relevant anymore assuming you stick with the same SA. It's just convenient and a bit arrogant for established clients like us to say there's no rule, but with newer clients I can see there are some merits to the whole pre-spend theory. Whenever I see 1:1 ration for new clients, I don't read is if they spent x amount they're guaranteed a QB, but I see it more as the 1:1 spending would allow them to take multiple trips to the boutique, building the relationship with the SA's and buying things that show their appreciation for the brand.

 

[QuelleFromage]

Just using B25, basic togo for example (no exotics or diamond/RGHW), I've seen people get offered one between 0.7:1 to 5:1 ratio at the same boutique, whereas the norm tend to be around 1:1, purely looking at statistics here. Depends on where your shop at and your relationship with the SA & SM, YMMV. And then there is me who have gotten multiple B/K's in EU with barely buying anything of significant value, but different system there so pre-spend isn't relevant. I don't see you mention shopping in Asia yet, I have. The SA's tend to be very straightforward and vocal about pre-spend, doesn't mean that they'll only offer QBs to the highest spenders, but they do want to give their regular clients a realistic expectation on the minimum spend to be considered for an offer, nothing guaranteed. They even told me aunt that whenever she receives a QB they reset the pre-spend before she gets another offer. Different culture and system there because of of the crazy high demand and the boutiques are oversaturated with high spending clients.

But I do agree with you that when you find a SA that you can really connect with, pre-spend isn't that important. Until we all find that special SA who's willing to give us SO every single year, people will have to continue to build that relationship with the SA, and part of the process require spending money or else it's pretty inconsiderate to take up hours of the SA's time to just chitchat and not buy anything. I think when you've shopped at H long enough, pre-spend isn't that relevant anymore assuming you stick with the same SA. It's just convenient and a bit arrogant for established clients like us to say there's no rule, but with newer clients I can see there are some merits to the whole pre-spend theory. Whenever I see 1:1 ration for new clients, I don't read is if they spent x amount they're guaranteed a QB, but I see it more as the 1:1 spending would allow them to take multiple trips to the boutique, building the relationship with the SA's and buying things that show their appreciation for the brand.

We all have different experiences. I do not say "there's no rule" to be arrogant, quite the opposite; I see a lot of frustration when a big spend doesn't result in the expected outcome. I might be an established customer in terms of experience, but I have started new boutique relationships from scratch several times, and every time has been different.

I spend a lot of time in Asia for work, but rarely buy anything from H there just because it's more expensive. Again, experiences vary, but certain places (could be Shanghai, could be Vegas) are more upfront about expectations than others. I have had SAs tell me verbatim that buying x jewelry will result in a bag.

 

[lala_retro]

It's not how it works in any boutique I shop at in the US, UK, or EU. I'd say the 1:1, 2:1, or 3:1 thing is more like an average. Anyone who says prespend is 40% less for a Mini Kelly in Epsom than for a Birkin 35 in Barenia is, well, going to be disappointed, even though those bags are far apart in price. Any more discussion of this should be in the shopping forum's appropriate thread
To get back to topic, when YouTubers talk about a 3:1 spend in an unboxing they do usually mean they spent 3x the price of a bag, because they are talking about ONE purchase; but boutiques don't work that way. You'd be better off thinking that the Birkin 35 is a 1:1 bag and the Mini K is a 3:1 or more. Or, you can just assign a number, as in "if you want Madison to take you seriously, spend at least $50K"

I'm a bit confused, because at first I thought you meant the ratio is calculated based on the prespend vs. the perceived value of the QB, which I take to mean the asking price on reseller sites like FP, instead of based on prespend vs. store purchase price of QB, but reading this comment I feel like we are kind of talking about the same thing, that the ratio is the amount spent before QB offer relative to purchase price of QB (i.e. if total $30k was spent on various items before being offered a K25, which is roughly ~$10k, then the ratio for this offer would be 3:1, 3x price of offered bag spent prior to offer being made). I don't think this way of calculating the ratio would lead to the conclusion that the prespend for a Mini Kelly II would be lower than that of B35, since the ratio for a B35 is expected to be less than 1:1, leading to prespend less than cost of bag, whereas the ratio for a Mini Kelly II is averaged at 3:1, leading to a prespend that is 3x the store purchase price of the bag, which would greatly exceed the <1:1 prespend for a B35.

Of course the prespend is not the sole determinant of whether offers are made, especially in the North American and European markets, and I don't think (hope) anybody thinks that. At least on tPF I feel like the point about maintaining relationships and loyalty to SA/store is always emphasized around discussions of QB offers. Though I think there is a prevailing belief, whether true or not, that greater prespend by newer clients can lead to faster/better offers.

 

[_kiki119_]

i agree that prespend is NOT a rule on how/when you can get a QB... we should think of it as a universal language/calculation that TPers can use without breaking out a currency calculator every time.... just like what @acrowcounted said

Like its been mentioned OVER and OVER again that it is vastly dependent on multiple reasons (stock, relationship, location... or direction wind blows that day haha)... I take prespend with a grain of salt since everyone can say whatever they want on how they got their bags since it is the internet after all.

 

[waterlily112]

We all have different experiences. I do not say "there's no rule" to be arrogant, quite the opposite; I see a lot of frustration when a big spend doesn't result in the expected outcome. I might be an established customer in terms of experience, but I have started new boutique relationships from scratch several times, and every time has been different.

I spend a lot of time in Asia for work, but rarely buy anything from H there just because it's more expensive. Again, experiences vary, but certain places (could be Shanghai, could be Vegas) are more upfront about expectations than others. I have had SAs tell me verbatim that buying x jewelry will result in a bag.

Thanks for the clarification and I think that's the main reason we keep repeating & emphasizing that everyone's H journey is different. Variables such as stock availability and SA relationship can greatly skew the outcome. I think a certain amount of pre-spend should be expected as the normal occurrence of the process. Members just like sharing their personal experience here, but I don't think people are blindly going by the pre-spend ratio (or try to formulate one) as the rule of thumb, more to use a baseline. If a member from Asia mentioned that their SA suggest them 3:1 pre-spend is needed for a B25, it may not be applicable to us who shop in the US or EU, but to others who shop at the same region or even same boutique may be a good point of reference. I personally believe SA relationship and patience, with a side of pure luck outweigh the pre-spend ratio. But when you have very little patience and luck, then the higher pre-spend with a SA who winks 'buy a diamond CDC bracelet & some avalon blanket from me and you'll get the bag' would be the way to go. That's how my cousin from Sydney got offered a B25 at the Madison boutique.

I guess to be politically correct, there's no pre-spend unless the SA tells/shows you otherwise

 

[cbradley]

About a year ago I went into Hermes with the goal of investing in collecting scarves. Definitely a collector now and at the store 2x a month. I was in shorts/T-shirt on that first visit, was treated like a queen walked out with 8 scarves. I now have shoes, tableware, fine jewelry, leather goods and moving into purse investment.

I’ve been in sales, both personal retail and corporate client. The job isn’t easy. It’s work getting scarce items and I try to make our engagements worth their time-I don’t looky-loo. I’m patient. I’m honest about what I like so my SA is spot on with surprise items. I’ve referred others to the store/my SA.

My SA is magical, but enjoy talking to all the other SAs and the wonderfully down to earth SM.

Being from retail, if I overhear a client wavering on a scarf I’ll casually mention the history/artistry. I’ve probably sold a fair amount of scarves while waiting for my SA.

I text my SA after each visit with appreciation for the amazing experience, because it’s truly fantastic to talk with her and spend time in store.

I had no idea about pre spending or SAs or anything. None. Maybe they like that I’ve got zero agenda. The history of the brand is big for me and I genuinely like the physical store atmosphere.

I’ve been told early on I could get a bag, but I don’t like taking her time until I’m ready to purchase. Still researching.

So not sure pre spend is it. The SA has a job to do and it seems they simply need to understand someone is a serious buyer.

It also seems important to show you’re cultivating a loyal consumer. That I do know to be true.

Good luck! The journey is half the fun!!

 

[agndessy]

Hello everyone.

I am a newbie member wanna to know how to build profile in Hermes boutique in order to purchase Constance 18?

Roughly need to spend how much and do i need to "Por" my SA?

Thanks you.