"To all the girls I've loved before..." (that are now on sale)

[ledobe]

I totally agree with everyone, and I know they play games with pricing, but in Coach's defense: I worked in retail management with one of the major department stores and with Victoria's Secret and I think what happens SOMETIMES, probably a lot of the time, are production issues. The timeline for placing a production order and having it in stores is pretty long, and if a buyer guesses wrong on quantities and something sells like crazy and there is not a sufficient production order to meet demand, it could be months before a product comes in and they order a ton more to be produced but it takes months...there is actually a legal time limit on how long you can keep an order open for someone before it has to be canceled, not to mention how we complain if we order something and have to wait. If its not coming out for awhile, or if they're not sure it will actually really come in, then they will tell us it's unavailable, hoping we'll find something else.

Add to that the chance that say, everything is in except just the right color/size of a turnlock or whatever and that delays it even longer so instead of releasing to retail what should have been a regular price bag goes straight to outlet because it's almost out of season or a similar replacement that was guestimated correctly has reduced the demand for the original item and you can kind of see why this can happen.

And the average rep on the phone or in a store probably not only doesn't know about the manufacturing timeline, they also probably don't know if it's really coming in at all (if they even know how to look this up, I bet most of them don't).

So there's another side to it and I've really only touched the tip of the iceberg as to why this can happen. I can promise you that the buyer and Coach would just stinkin' love to sell you the bag you want at full price.

 

[quinna]

I totally agree with everyone, and I know they play games with pricing, but in Coach's defense: I worked in retail management with one of the major department stores and with Victoria's Secret and I think what happens SOMETIMES, probably a lot of the time, are production issues. The timeline for placing a production order and having it in stores is pretty long, and if a buyer guesses wrong on quantities and something sells like crazy and there is not a sufficient production order to meet demand, it could be months before a product comes in and they order a ton more to be produced but it takes months...there is actually a legal time limit on how long you can keep an order open for someone before it has to be canceled, not to mention how we complain if we order something and have to wait. If its not coming out for awhile, or if they're not sure it will actually really come in, then they will tell us it's unavailable, hoping we'll find something else.

Add to that the chance that say, everything is in except just the right color/size of a turnlock or whatever and that delays it even longer so instead of releasing to retail what should have been a regular price bag goes straight to outlet because it's almost out of season or a similar replacement that was guestimated correctly has reduced the demand for the original item and you can kind of see why this can happen.

And the average rep on the phone or in a store probably not only doesn't know about the manufacturing timeline, they also probably don't know if it's really coming in at all (if they even know how to look this up, I bet most of them don't).

So there's another side to it and I've really only touched the tip of the iceberg as to why this can happen. I can promise you that the buyer and Coach would just stinkin' love to sell you the bag you want at full price.

Thanks for sharing this perspective. It makes a lot of sense!

 

[Nymeria1]

Exactly! Thanks for bringing this thread back on track. That's exactly what I mean!

Thanks CoachCruiser for initiating a thread that isn't about the "Deal" one may get on a Coach bag, but Coach's repeated practice of telling the consumer that a particular bag has been "sold out, gone, can't get it, deleted," etc., only to have that bag Miraculously reappear many months later at some Outlet or the SemiAnnual Sale. Case in point: last year I really wanted to buy the large Phoebe in Peach Rose. I searched many FP boutiques, made many phone calls, tried dept. stores, ad nauseam. All to no avail. Was told that the Peach Rose Phoebe was totally sold out Everywhere, all over the country, impossible to get. So I gave up, until the famous SAS sale several months later, when this coveted bag suddenly showed up and made its reappearance literally in every FP boutique and dept. store I walked into!! And these bags were in abundance, not just a few...Second case in point: this year's SAS -
The Teal Crosby which I looked for all last Fall and had supposedly been impossible to get has Miraculously shown up in FP boutiques again... I could go on about other examples but these will probably show up at the next SAS in the winter. Perhaps my floral patchwork Swagger?? To sum up my rant, I think that Coach deliberately "holds back" bags that have not really disappeared at all, part of their weird marketing strategy. Just MO.

 

[CoachCruiser]

Thanks CoachCruiser for initiating a thread that isn't about the "Deal" one may get on a Coach bag, but Coach's repeated practice of telling the consumer that a particular bag has been "sold out, gone, can't get it, deleted," etc., only to have that bag Miraculously reappear many months later at some Outlet or the SemiAnnual Sale. Case in point: last year I really wanted to buy the large Phoebe in Peach Rose. I searched many FP boutiques, made many phone calls, tried dept. stores, ad nauseam. All to no avail. Was told that the Peach Rose Phoebe was totally sold out Everywhere, all over the country, impossible to get. So I gave up, until the famous SAS sale several months later, when this coveted bag suddenly showed up and made its reappearance literally in every FP boutique and dept. store I walked into!! And these bags were in abundance, not just a few...Second case in point: this year's SAS -
The Teal Crosby which I looked for all last Fall and had supposedly been impossible to get has Miraculously shown up in FP boutiques again... I could go on about other examples but these will probably show up at the next SAS in the winter. Perhaps my floral patchwork Swagger?? To sum up my rant, I think that Coach deliberately "holds back" bags that have not really disappeared at all, part of their weird marketing strategy. Just MO.

That's precisely what I am talking about. :sunnies

 

[whateve]

Thank you for the help. I was hoping I could get lucky with online chat and be able to order. Just 3 days ago they had oxblood urbane on their site and I got them to price adjust it to 50% off the full price because it was clearanced like a year ago in stores.

Most of the people who work online chat aren't Coach employees. They have very limited knowledge. They only have access to same information that is on the website.

 

[whateve]

I strongly considered and almost brought home the periwinkle riveted dakota crossbody earlier this year, but couldn't fathom spending over $500 on a studded crossbody. To see it in the SAS for $315 makes me glad I didn't!! But also upset enough not to get it now. Makes me want to ask... so how much is it *really* worth?

I know what you mean. I was trying to decide between this Dakotah and the Drifter in the same color with PCE. I ended up getting the Drifter but there were too many things wrong so I returned it. Now that I see the Drifter and the Dakotah on SAS, I don't feel much of an urge to get either of them.

 

[AshleyLovesLV]

Thanks for the tip. I had it in my cart on the Coach site just a few minutes but then changed my mind. I've been looking around online for pictures of the actual bag. I happened across one on Ebay some gal is selling and the corner of the bag has already rubbed off and the white under the leather is showing. What a horrible look that is. I'm not taking a chance on that happening on a bag I pay $200 for. Apparently the camo is a thin layer of leather over the body form. I could see how it could quickly rub/nick off esp. since the tote is so big on the bottom and could tend to knock into things. Once again a Coach quality issue. I'll pass. I feel sorry for her, she is trying to sell it for $168, no one is going to buy it like that. What a waste.

This happened to my camo tote. I ended up giving it to a friend.

 

[highrider9o9]

I strongly considered and almost brought home the periwinkle riveted dakota crossbody earlier this year, but couldn't fathom spending over $500 on a studded crossbody. To see it in the SAS for $315 makes me glad I didn't!! But also upset enough not to get it now. Makes me want to ask... so how much is it *really* worth?

I think your'e being a little overdramatic to be honest. Too upset over the fact that it went on sale to buy it now? It's pretty common knowledge that most designer brands have an SAS or things go on sale eventually, if you get a great deal on something thats great, if you buy it full price, well you had it before everyone else and live and let learn. But your'e acting like the idea of it going on sale is so preposterous.

 

[highrider9o9]

Thanks CoachCruiser for initiating a thread that isn't about the "Deal" one may get on a Coach bag, but Coach's repeated practice of telling the consumer that a particular bag has been "sold out, gone, can't get it, deleted," etc., only to have that bag Miraculously reappear many months later at some Outlet or the SemiAnnual Sale. Case in point: last year I really wanted to buy the large Phoebe in Peach Rose. I searched many FP boutiques, made many phone calls, tried dept. stores, ad nauseam. All to no avail. Was told that the Peach Rose Phoebe was totally sold out Everywhere, all over the country, impossible to get. So I gave up, until the famous SAS sale several months later, when this coveted bag suddenly showed up and made its reappearance literally in every FP boutique and dept. store I walked into!! And these bags were in abundance, not just a few...Second case in point: this year's SAS -
The Teal Crosby which I looked for all last Fall and had supposedly been impossible to get has Miraculously shown up in FP boutiques again... I could go on about other examples but these will probably show up at the next SAS in the winter. Perhaps my floral patchwork Swagger?? To sum up my rant, I think that Coach deliberately "holds back" bags that have not really disappeared at all, part of their weird marketing strategy. Just MO.

I feel like we blame a lot of the employees over this when it really isn't their fault. A good friend of mine was a manager at a FP boutique and how often they were kept in the dark was ridiculous. There system would tell them that a bag was sold out or no longer available, but it was in the outlets. The FP stores literally have no connection to the outlet, the FP boutiques cannot check outlet quantities or see if a bag is in factory or not from their computer system. So to their knowledge a particular bag was sold out for them.

 

[CoachCruiser]

I feel like we blame a lot of the employees over this when it really isn't their fault. A good friend of mine was a manager at a FP boutique and how often they were kept in the dark was ridiculous. There system would tell them that a bag was sold out or no longer available, but it was in the outlets. The FP stores literally have no connection to the outlet, the FP boutiques cannot check outlet quantities or see if a bag is in factory or not from their computer system. So to their knowledge a particular bag was sold out for them.

Hi there - I don't think Nymeria was blaming the employees as much as expressing frustration with the company itself. I'm good friends with a couple of Coach employees, too, and I know what you mean - they are kept in the dark quite often.

 

[CoachCruiser]

I think your'e being a little overdramatic to be honest. Too upset over the fact that it went on sale to buy it now? It's pretty common knowledge that most designer brands have an SAS or things go on sale eventually, if you get a great deal on something thats great, if you buy it full price, well you had it before everyone else and live and let learn. But your'e acting like the idea of it going on sale is so preposterous.

I politely disagree. I don't think Tygress is being overdramatic, only because Coach just doesn't do semi-annual sales now - they do, well, just about everything, all over the board, to try and get customers to buy expensive bags and then mark them down only a few weeks later....in outlets, in boutiques....it's crazy. One cannot keep up! So I understand her disgust....

The bottom line is: It's a crapshoot with Coach. If you see a stunning bag in an unusual color/etc, you can decide to pay full price and suck it up and look the other way when it goes on sale, or you can take a risk and wait for it to go on sale - if it does (and they all usually seem to) - and then do the inevitable hunting around for it if it was a limited type of bag.

 

[Nymeria1]

I politely disagree. I don't think Tygress is being overdramatic, only because Coach just doesn't do semi-annual sales now - they do, well, just about everything, all over the board, to try and get customers to buy expensive bags and then mark them down only a few weeks later....in outlets, in boutiques....it's crazy. One cannot keep up! So I understand her disgust....

The bottom line is: It's a crapshoot with Coach. If you see a stunning bag in an unusual color/etc, you can decide to pay full price and suck it up and look the other way when it goes on sale, or you can take a risk and wait for it to go on sale - if it does (and they all usually seem to) - and then do the inevitable hunting around for it if it was a limited type of bag.

 

[AshleyLovesLV]

I politely disagree. I don't think Tygress is being overdramatic, only because Coach just doesn't do semi-annual sales now - they do, well, just about everything, all over the board, to try and get customers to buy expensive bags and then mark them down only a few weeks later....in outlets, in boutiques....it's crazy. One cannot keep up! So I understand her disgust....

The bottom line is: It's a crapshoot with Coach. If you see a stunning bag in an unusual color/etc, you can decide to pay full price and suck it up and look the other way when it goes on sale, or you can take a risk and wait for it to go on sale - if it does (and they all usually seem to) - and then do the inevitable hunting around for it if it was a limited type of bag.

[emoji2][emoji114][emoji108][emoji106] Yep!

 

[iNeedCoffee]

I politely disagree. I don't think Tygress is being overdramatic, only because Coach just doesn't do semi-annual sales now - they do, well, just about everything, all over the board, to try and get customers to buy expensive bags and then mark them down only a few weeks later....in outlets, in boutiques....it's crazy. One cannot keep up! So I understand her disgust....

The bottom line is: It's a crapshoot with Coach. If you see a stunning bag in an unusual color/etc, you can decide to pay full price and suck it up and look the other way when it goes on sale, or you can take a risk and wait for it to go on sale - if it does (and they all usually seem to) - and then do the inevitable hunting around for it if it was a limited type of bag.

Very well stated!!

 

[CoachMaven]

Don't feel bad!! We all have to decide what it's worth to us. I paid full price for my Swagger because I was not willing to take a chance on the Periwinkle being sold out before they might have gone on sale. Same for my duffle...I know I paid WAY more than other people, but it was still less than full price and couldn't be sure I'd find it anywhere else.
And I think almost 50% off is great!! I think the days of finding many styles of FP deletes at outlets for deep discounts are gone, so we're having to redefine just what those great deals now are.
Bottom line: enjoy your new beauty...no matter what!

I agree with this sentiment, gone are the days when the pinnacle lines of $700+ handbags were found at the outlets for $200 or even sometimes less. I scored several awesome bags that way. I say if you love it and can get it, get it. It is all a matter of what you think it is worth.