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#3,031
I will to explain the Podium.
As many people might know, podium is to order the whole collection for the next season. 2 times every year, end of January and July. The January one is to order for the winter collection that year, and the July is for the spring summer collection the next year.

During the podium, the shop manager could bring one of his staff to the podium, and the entrance permit is something unique for the podium, it's a necklace but with some symbolic design of Hermes and written the name of your shop in it, I have one( the shop manager gave me as a small gift when I finished the intern), I will post a photo later. And of course there's a brochure , like a map, showing different areas of each department.
It lasts around 3 days, and within the 3 days, the shop manager should choose all the collection for the shop. He would be given a budget of money (something like monopoly) , and he can use these money to buy. Every department has its budget, so the manager should be very careful about how much he purchase. It's actually quite a difficult job, as there's so many choices in a whole collection, and you should choose the most interesting one to put in your shop within a short time and limited budget. It's all about the taste of the manager. And the budget depends on the sale of the shop of last year.

So a manager can not buy all the pieces in all sizes for his shop. If there's such an item which no manager interested in, then this item would be never available in any shop, or simply said, it would never be produced. The factory only produce the pieces and sizes which the managers buy. So when the collection is available in the shop, there's always situation that we could not find the size or the item that client wants as no manager buy it at the podium. The same for the bags, if there's a color or size which no manager buy, it would not be produced, maybe only in special order.

And bags are more chicky then the others, they divide the colors into 3 groups. Group A includes the color such as pink, light blue or bright colors. Group B includes black, grey, dark blue such classic color. Group C includes gold, dark grey such colors which ain't popular. And of course managers are not allowed to buy all bags in the A group, if he wants a bag in A group, then he should choose 2 in C group at the same time or 1 in C group and 2 in B group. So even the manager wants to have more popular colors, it's not allowed. And that's why the pink bags are so rare. This rule also applies to the size of bags, if a manager wants a 25 Kelly, then he must take 35 kelly at the same time.

Normally a manager has no preference to buy crocodile bags, it's not due to he doesn't like them. It's only because within the limited budget, one crocodile bag= 4-5 classic bags, which means he could satisfy 4-5 clients instead only one client. But the manager would have in mind that how many VIP client or rich clients who desire for crocodile piece in his shop, and order some pieces for them.

In a word, Hermes is different from other companies. In other brands, they produce all the sizes and models as long as in the collection, so you could find the any size you want any piece you are interested in at the good monent( if you try to find at the end of a collection, you still have poor chance). But in Hermes, it's all according to what the manager buy at the podium.

So next time, if you are really interested in some piece when you watch the show, you can ask the shop manager whether he buy such a piece of certain size from the podium. You could have a straight answer that you could have it or no.
 
#3,032
Rom.roths said:
I will to explain the Podium.
As many people might know, podium is to order the whole collection for the next season. 2 times every year, end of January and July. The January one is to order for the winter collection that year, and the July is for the spring summer collection the next year.

During the podium, the shop manager could bring one of his staff to the podium, and the entrance permit is something unique for the podium, it's a necklace but with some symbolic design of Hermes and written the name of your shop in it, I have one( the shop manager gave me as a small gift when I finished the intern), I will post a photo later. And of course there's a brochure , like a map, showing different areas of each department.
It lasts around 3 days, and within the 3 days, the shop manager should choose all the collection for the shop. He would be given a budget of money (something like monopoly) , and he can use these money to buy. Every department has its budget, so the manager should be very careful about how much he purchase. It's actually quite a difficult job, as there's so many choices in a whole collection, and you should choose the most interesting one to put in your shop within a short time and limited budget. It's all about the taste of the manager. And the budget depends on the sale of the shop of last year.

So a manager can not buy all the pieces in all sizes for his shop. If there's such an item which no manager interested in, then this item would be never available in any shop, or simply said, it would never be produced. The factory only produce the pieces and sizes which the managers buy. So when the collection is available in the shop, there's always situation that we could not find the size or the item that client wants as no manager buy it at the podium. The same for the bags, if there's a color or size which no manager buy, it would not be produced, maybe only in special order.

And bags are more chicky then the others, they divide the colors into 3 groups. Group A includes the color such as pink, light blue or bright colors. Group B includes black, grey, dark blue such classic color. Group C includes gold, dark grey such colors which ain't popular. And of course managers are not allowed to buy all bags in the A group, if he wants a bag in A group, then he should choose 2 in C group at the same time or 1 in C group and 2 in B group. So even the manager wants to have more popular colors, it's not allowed. And that's why the pink bags are so rare. This rule also applies to the size of bags, if a manager wants a 25 Kelly, then he must take 35 kelly at the same time.

Normally a manager has no preference to buy crocodile bags, it's not due to he doesn't like them. It's only because within the limited budget, one crocodile bag= 4-5 classic bags, which means he could satisfy 4-5 clients instead only one client. But the manager would have in mind that how many VIP client or rich clients who desire for crocodile piece in his shop, and order some pieces for them.

In a word, Hermes is different from other companies. In other brands, they produce all the sizes and models as long as in the collection, so you could find the any size you want any piece you are interested in at the good monent( if you try to find at the end of a collection, you still have poor chance). But in Hermes, it's all according to what the manager buy at the podium.

So next time, if you are really interested in some piece when you watch the show, you can ask the shop manager whether he buy such a piece of certain size from the podium. You could have a straight answer that you could have it or no.
Click to expand...

Interesting write out
Lol monopoly
Sound so fun there
Thanks for taking time bringing us
La tour de hermes
Haha
Looking forward to read more
 
#3,033
periogirl28 said:
Yes I think this is true, in some countries it's absolutely fine and for others it's not. I message some of my SAs directly and for others it's via the work email or store number.
Click to expand...

I have been told by my SA that they are not supposed to give out their personal phone #. Many still do for their regular clients. I have my SA's cell # so that I can text him things that I am looking for. A friend of mine who has had a long standing relationship with her SA does not have her cell # as she refuses to give it to anyone because it is against the rules.
 
#3,034
megt10 said:
I have been told by my SA that they are not supposed to give out their personal phone #. Many still do for their regular clients. I have my SA's cell # so that I can text him things that I am looking for. A friend of mine who has had a long standing relationship with her SA does not have her cell # as she refuses to give it to anyone because it is against the rules.
Click to expand...


Exactly
Hermes pay great efforts to stop the underground deal between resellers and salesman
 
#3,037
Rom.roths said:
Exactly
Hermes pay great efforts to stop the underground deal between resellers and salesman
Click to expand...

I would love to hear more about that! It seems to me that resellers are always the ones that end up with the newest and most coveted bags. There is a reseller in my area and I have had conversations with him about how he has acquired so many bags.

My SA has explained to me exactly the quota system at his store and has been very upfront about what needs to be purchased for each bag. I appreciate that he has been honest with me.
 
#3,038
megt10 said:
I would love to hear more about that! It seems to me that resellers are always the ones that end up with the newest and most coveted bags. There is a reseller in my area and I have had conversations with him about how he has acquired so many bags.



My SA has explained to me exactly the quota system at his store and has been very upfront about what needs to be purchased for each bag. I appreciate that he has been honest with me.
Click to expand...


I try to answer you a bit as there are so many things that we are not allowed to talk.
First it's sure that Hermes doesn't want resellers to be their clients, who would bring a bad reputation. But it's also true that for the moment the majority of the sale is contributed by the resellers. I'll leave the question to you, if you are Hermes, what would you do? As I am not Hermes company himself, I am not able to answer you that.
I've heard a bit about how resellers do, and in my shop, as far as I can see, yes, there are indeed some resellers. Regarding the fact that only resellers would love to purchase extra items other than bags, or in order to obtain a bag, many managers actually can't say no to them, can't say no to the budget. If they don't make the budget, they lose their job anyway. We don't like them but we can't live without them, that's the fact now. The only way is to control them.
There are some managers would ask the reseller to bring a friend or use another passport to purchase the bags as the limitation about 2 bags per year. There are some managers would deal with resellers as a bait, keep them waiting. There are some managers take money from reseller to sell the bags. There are all kinds of situations happening around the world. We can not judge the company, we can only judge the manager or the salesman himself. Because we understand that is absolutely not the sprite of Hermes. But it happens.
Every year, Hermes fires many people for taking money from clients/private contact with clients/telling the stock of the shop to the clients...so we can see the efforts they are making. I am just not sure when would be the end.
 
#3,039
Rom.roths said:
I try to answer you a bit as there are so many things that we are not allowed to talk.
First it's sure that Hermes doesn't want resellers to be their clients, who would bring a bad reputation. But it's also true that for the moment the majority of the sale is contributed by the resellers. I'll leave the question to you, if you are Hermes, what would you do? As I am not Hermes company himself, I am not able to answer you that.
I've heard a bit about how resellers do, and in my shop, as far as I can see, yes, there are indeed some resellers. Regarding the fact that only resellers would love to purchase extra items other than bags, or in order to obtain a bag, many managers actually can't say no to them, can't say no to the budget. If they don't make the budget, they lose their job anyway. We don't like them but we can't live without them, that's the fact now. The only way is to control them.
There are some managers would ask the reseller to bring a friend or use another passport to purchase the bags as the limitation about 2 bags per year. There are some managers would deal with resellers as a bait, keep them waiting. There are some managers take money from reseller to sell the bags. There are all kinds of situations happening around the world. We can not judge the company, we can only judge the manager or the salesman himself. Because we understand that is absolutely not the sprite of Hermes. But it happens.
Every year, Hermes fires many people for taking money from clients/private contact with clients/telling the stock of the shop to the clients...so we can see the efforts they are making. I am just not sure when would be the end.
Click to expand...

How long were you employed as an intern with Hermes?
 
#3,041
Rom.roths said:
I will to explain the Podium.
As many people might know, podium is to order the whole collection for the next season. 2 times every year, end of January and July. The January one is to order for the winter collection that year, and the July is for the spring summer collection the next year.

During the podium, the shop manager could bring one of his staff to the podium, and the entrance permit is something unique for the podium, it's a necklace but with some symbolic design of Hermes and written the name of your shop in it, I have one( the shop manager gave me as a small gift when I finished the intern), I will post a photo later. And of course there's a brochure , like a map, showing different areas of each department.
It lasts around 3 days, and within the 3 days, the shop manager should choose all the collection for the shop. He would be given a budget of money (something like monopoly) , and he can use these money to buy. Every department has its budget, so the manager should be very careful about how much he purchase. It's actually quite a difficult job, as there's so many choices in a whole collection, and you should choose the most interesting one to put in your shop within a short time and limited budget. It's all about the taste of the manager. And the budget depends on the sale of the shop of last year.

So a manager can not buy all the pieces in all sizes for his shop. If there's such an item which no manager interested in, then this item would be never available in any shop, or simply said, it would never be produced. The factory only produce the pieces and sizes which the managers buy. So when the collection is available in the shop, there's always situation that we could not find the size or the item that client wants as no manager buy it at the podium. The same for the bags, if there's a color or size which no manager buy, it would not be produced, maybe only in special order.

And bags are more chicky then the others, they divide the colors into 3 groups. Group A includes the color such as pink, light blue or bright colors. Group B includes black, grey, dark blue such classic color. Group C includes gold, dark grey such colors which ain't popular. And of course managers are not allowed to buy all bags in the A group, if he wants a bag in A group, then he should choose 2 in C group at the same time or 1 in C group and 2 in B group. So even the manager wants to have more popular colors, it's not allowed. And that's why the pink bags are so rare. This rule also applies to the size of bags, if a manager wants a 25 Kelly, then he must take 35 kelly at the same time.

Normally a manager has no preference to buy crocodile bags, it's not due to he doesn't like them. It's only because within the limited budget, one crocodile bag= 4-5 classic bags, which means he could satisfy 4-5 clients instead only one client. But the manager would have in mind that how many VIP client or rich clients who desire for crocodile piece in his shop, and order some pieces for them.

In a word, Hermes is different from other companies. In other brands, they produce all the sizes and models as long as in the collection, so you could find the any size you want any piece you are interested in at the good monent( if you try to find at the end of a collection, you still have poor chance). But in Hermes, it's all according to what the manager buy at the podium.

So next time, if you are really interested in some piece when you watch the show, you can ask the shop manager whether he buy such a piece of certain size from the podium. You could have a straight answer that you could have it or no.
Click to expand...
Thanks for sharing all the interesting details. :) My SM did tell me about bright colours and dark colours. A Himalayan B would be considered a bright colour according to my SM.
 
#3,042
Powder Puff said:
Thanks for sharing all the interesting details. :) My SM did tell me about bright colours and dark colours. A Himalayan B would be considered a bright colour according to my SM.
Click to expand...


Yes Himalayan is very special color and crocodile leather, not every shop could buy one at the podium and even the big shops are only allowed 1-2 pieces every year
 
#3,043
Thanks Rom.roths, great information! Totally make sense if H would only sell B & K to anyone, each shop cannot achieve the sales quota to stay profitable and in business.

Although I am not into their RTW, but I love the silver Jewelry line, home decor and shoes!

Rom.roths said:
There's two situation,
Every morning of the day, or at the beginning of the week, the shop manager would choose several bags(Birkin/Kelly) and tell the salesmen, these are the bags we could sell today/week. So normally we don't need to ask the manager for these bags. But actually they ask, because they don't want any trouble afterwards.

The other situation is every month or week, the shop manager pick several bags, and tell each salesman" you can sell these bags this week/month". And the salesman don't need to ask the manager before he sells, even the client doesn't purchase anything else. It varies from shop to shop that the quota they can sell every month. Normally a small shop like us we can sell 40-50 Birkin/kelly per months. But for FSH, it's totally different, I've heard that one salesman could achieve 100,000 euro sale in one day which is incredible for some small shops like us. So surely they have bigger amount for bags.

Oh, there's another situation, that only happens in big shops with different department managers. The shop manager choose some bags for every department, and the department manager can decide themselves to whom they sell. And the salesman always need to ask their department director for sell a bag as they are not allowed.

In any case above, there's always a budget we need to achieve, so we have to think how to achieve the budget with the use of limited bags, same for a department manager or for a salesman in small shops. Even for a shop manager, if a shop makes a huge sale, he can have bigger quota for bags when the podium

PS. Mini Kelly pochette/ Kelly cut pochette/ HAC are all included in these quota.
Not the Constance.



And every manager keep the stock into two parts, one for himself( the bags only could be sold by himself) and one for the shop staff. And stock for himself include exceptional pieces, exotic leather or special orders. If you enquire such a piece, the salesman have to ask the manager for that.
Click to expand...
 
#3,044
Exactly I was told... Let's balme on the shop managers for his/her bad taste and not able to get the color or the size that we desire...lol (just kidding). I think I will be an easy client to satisfy as I am not interest in any of the group A colors and Croc skin . ::graucho:


Rom.roths said:
I will to explain the Podium.
As many people might know, podium is to order the whole collection for the next season. 2 times every year, end of January and July. The January one is to order for the winter collection that year, and the July is for the spring summer collection the next year.

During the podium, the shop manager could bring one of his staff to the podium, and the entrance permit is something unique for the podium, it's a necklace but with some symbolic design of Hermes and written the name of your shop in it, I have one( the shop manager gave me as a small gift when I finished the intern), I will post a photo later. And of course there's a brochure , like a map, showing different areas of each department.
It lasts around 3 days, and within the 3 days, the shop manager should choose all the collection for the shop. He would be given a budget of money (something like monopoly) , and he can use these money to buy. Every department has its budget, so the manager should be very careful about how much he purchase. It's actually quite a difficult job, as there's so many choices in a whole collection, and you should choose the most interesting one to put in your shop within a short time and limited budget. It's all about the taste of the manager. And the budget depends on the sale of the shop of last year.

So a manager can not buy all the pieces in all sizes for his shop. If there's such an item which no manager interested in, then this item would be never available in any shop, or simply said, it would never be produced. The factory only produce the pieces and sizes which the managers buy. So when the collection is available in the shop, there's always situation that we could not find the size or the item that client wants as no manager buy it at the podium. The same for the bags, if there's a color or size which no manager buy, it would not be produced, maybe only in special order.

And bags are more chicky then the others, they divide the colors into 3 groups. Group A includes the color such as pink, light blue or bright colors. Group B includes black, grey, dark blue such classic color. Group C includes gold, dark grey such colors which ain't popular. And of course managers are not allowed to buy all bags in the A group, if he wants a bag in A group, then he should choose 2 in C group at the same time or 1 in C group and 2 in B group. So even the manager wants to have more popular colors, it's not allowed. And that's why the pink bags are so rare. This rule also applies to the size of bags, if a manager wants a 25 Kelly, then he must take 35 kelly at the same time..

Normally a manager has no preference to buy crocodile bags, it's not due to he doesn't like them. It's only because within the limited budget, one crocodile bag= 4-5 classic bags, which means he could satisfy 4-5 clients instead only one client. But the manager would have in mind that how many VIP client or rich clients who desire for crocodile piece in his shop, and order some pieces for them.

In a word, Hermes is different from other companies. In other brands, they produce all the sizes and models as long as in the collection, so you could find the any size you want any piece you are interested in at the good monent( if you try to find at the end of a collection, you still have poor chance). But in Hermes, it's all according to what the manager buy at the podium.

So next time, if you are really interested in some piece when you watch the show, you can ask the shop manager whether he buy such a piece of certain size from the podium. You could have a straight answer that you could have it or no.
Click to expand...
 
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