Treatment in Hermes Stores

[WilliamLion]

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.

View attachment 3144573View attachment 3144575View attachment 3144576View attachment 3144577

This is the map of the podium if any one is interested.

Thank you for your intel and I gained more knowledge about H. The map is really cute to me!

 

[datchica]

Wow Rom.roths thank you for your insights. This has been quite the education.

 

[Txoceangirl]

View attachment 3144573View attachment 3144575View attachment 3144576View attachment 3144577

This is the map of the podium if any one is interested.

All the information you provided is very helpful. Thank you for taking the time to do so! Love the map of podium.

 

[excalibur]

So a podium is like an art gallery full of items that managers can choose to "buy" using their monopoly cash? Must be tough for the store mgr to forecast what's sellable & what's not.

All the information you provided is very helpful. Thank you for taking the time to do so! Love the map of podium.

 

[Luvbolide]

I really enjoyed reading more about Podium - thanks for all of the info!

 

[Rom.roths]

So a podium is like an art gallery full of items that managers can choose to "buy" using their monopoly cash? Must be tough for the store mgr to forecast what's sellable & what's not.

Yes exactly, it's rather tough work so every time the shop manager would have a few days off after the podium to rest a little.

 

[Rom.roths]

An addition to Podium.
The podium actually is not only a conference for managers to put orders. When I say it is like a monopoly game, it's actually really a sale. There are salesmen selling all the items, and they make profit!! The salesmen at the podium only works for the podium, two times each year. Their job is to introduce, promote and sell the items, just like every salesman's work. The price at the podium is not the the price we see in the shop, and of course it's not the cost to produce the product. For example, one item cost 500 to produce, then its price at the podium might be 800, and the price at the shop might be 1200. And when Hermes sell the items at the podium to every shop, actually they already make profit( 800-500), after they have a second profit (1200-800). But the first profit doesn't need to pay tax. It might be difficult to understand, but that's how they do at the podium.
So Hermes hire salesmen to sell as many pieces as possible, the salesmen need to be more professional as their "clients" are all managers of the shops and professional too.

Sometimes I wonder the whole bizarre story about Bags(need to purchase a lot before obtaining a bag) is due to the podium system. As the managers are required to do so at the podium, it's no surprise that they need to sell in this way in their shop to make the budget.
And when the managers at the podium are asked to buy a difficult piece( such as a diamond watch or furniture), they have to think how to sell it in their shop and normally when they put orders for the bags, they already have the idea in their mind, which bag should I offer in order to sell this piece of difficult item.

 

[LaenaLovely]

An addition to Podium.
The podium actually is not only a conference for managers to put orders. When I say it is like a monopoly game, it's actually really a sale. There are salesmen selling all the items, and they make profit!! The salesmen at the podium only works for the podium, two times each year. Their job is to introduce, promote and sell the items, just like every salesman's work. The price at the podium is not the the price we see in the shop, and of course it's not the cost to produce the product. For example, one item cost 500 to produce, then its price at the podium might be 800, and the price at the shop might be 1200. And when Hermes sell the items at the podium to every shop, actually they already make profit( 800-500), after they have a second profit (1200-800). But the first profit doesn't need to pay tax. It might be difficult to understand, but that's how they do at the podium.
So Hermes hire salesmen to sell as many pieces as possible, the salesmen need to be more professional as their "clients" are all managers of the shops and professional too.

Sometimes I wonder the whole bizarre story about Bags(need to purchase a lot before obtaining a bag) is due to the podium system. As the managers are required to do so at the podium, it's no surprise that they need to sell in this way in their shop to make the budget.
And when the managers at the podium are asked to buy a difficult piece( such as a diamond watch or furniture), they have to think how to sell it in their shop and normally when they put orders for the bags, they already have the idea in their mind, which bag should I offer in order to sell this piece of difficult item.

Thank you for this! So helpful!

 

[bagidiotic]

An addition to Podium.
The podium actually is not only a conference for managers to put orders. When I say it is like a monopoly game, it's actually really a sale. There are salesmen selling all the items, and they make profit!! The salesmen at the podium only works for the podium, two times each year. Their job is to introduce, promote and sell the items, just like every salesman's work. The price at the podium is not the the price we see in the shop, and of course it's not the cost to produce the product. For example, one item cost 500 to produce, then its price at the podium might be 800, and the price at the shop might be 1200. And when Hermes sell the items at the podium to every shop, actually they already make profit( 800-500), after they have a second profit (1200-800). But the first profit doesn't need to pay tax. It might be difficult to understand, but that's how they do at the podium.
So Hermes hire salesmen to sell as many pieces as possible, the salesmen need to be more professional as their "clients" are all managers of the shops and professional too.

Sometimes I wonder the whole bizarre story about Bags(need to purchase a lot before obtaining a bag) is due to the podium system. As the managers are required to do so at the podium, it's no surprise that they need to sell in this way in their shop to make the budget.
And when the managers at the podium are asked to buy a difficult piece( such as a diamond watch or furniture), they have to think how to sell it in their shop and normally when they put orders for the bags, they already have the idea in their mind, which bag should I offer in order to sell this piece of difficult item.

Your stories are getting more and more interesting
So cool
Where is this grand monopoly game held each podium
Can imagine the amount of stressful works
No wonder we are paying sooooo much more
Really brilliant way of system

 

[Powder Puff]

Your stories are getting more and more interesting
So cool
Where is this grand monopoly game held each podium
Can imagine the amount of stressful works
No wonder we are paying sooooo much more
Really brilliant way of system

Bagidiotic, I was told that the podium is held at a warehouse far from FSH and a bus will take all the managers there each morning. Rom.roths, is that true?

 

[doves75]

An addition to Podium.
The podium actually is not only a conference for managers to put orders. When I say it is like a monopoly game, it's actually really a sale. There are salesmen selling all the items, and they make profit!! The salesmen at the podium only works for the podium, two times each year. Their job is to introduce, promote and sell the items, just like every salesman's work. The price at the podium is not the the price we see in the shop, and of course it's not the cost to produce the product. For example, one item cost 500 to produce, then its price at the podium might be 800, and the price at the shop might be 1200. And when Hermes sell the items at the podium to every shop, actually they already make profit( 800-500), after they have a second profit (1200-800). But the first profit doesn't need to pay tax. It might be difficult to understand, but that's how they do at the podium.
So Hermes hire salesmen to sell as many pieces as possible, the salesmen need to be more professional as their "clients" are all managers of the shops and professional too.

Sometimes I wonder the whole bizarre story about Bags(need to purchase a lot before obtaining a bag) is due to the podium system. As the managers are required to do so at the podium, it's no surprise that they need to sell in this way in their shop to make the budget.
And when the managers at the podium are asked to buy a difficult piece( such as a diamond watch or furniture), they have to think how to sell it in their shop and normally when they put orders for the bags, they already have the idea in their mind, which bag should I offer in order to sell this piece of difficult item.

Wow....very interesting, such an eye opener. Thank you again Rom.roths [emoji106]🏼[emoji106]🏼

 

[Daisu]

An addition to Podium.
The podium actually is not only a conference for managers to put orders. When I say it is like a monopoly game, it's actually really a sale. There are salesmen selling all the items, and they make profit!! The salesmen at the podium only works for the podium, two times each year. Their job is to introduce, promote and sell the items, just like every salesman's work. The price at the podium is not the the price we see in the shop, and of course it's not the cost to produce the product. For example, one item cost 500 to produce, then its price at the podium might be 800, and the price at the shop might be 1200. And when Hermes sell the items at the podium to every shop, actually they already make profit( 800-500), after they have a second profit (1200-800). But the first profit doesn't need to pay tax. It might be difficult to understand, but that's how they do at the podium.
So Hermes hire salesmen to sell as many pieces as possible, the salesmen need to be more professional as their "clients" are all managers of the shops and professional too.

Sometimes I wonder the whole bizarre story about Bags(need to purchase a lot before obtaining a bag) is due to the podium system. As the managers are required to do so at the podium, it's no surprise that they need to sell in this way in their shop to make the budget.
And when the managers at the podium are asked to buy a difficult piece( such as a diamond watch or furniture), they have to think how to sell it in their shop and normally when they put orders for the bags, they already have the idea in their mind, which bag should I offer in order to sell this piece of difficult item.

Thank you for all the very interesting and informative posts! Now it makes sense why the stores act the way they do. Such a stressful system for the poor SMs.

 

[Rom.roths]

Bagidiotic, I was told that the podium is held at a warehouse far from FSH and a bus will take all the managers there each morning. Rom.roths, is that true?

Yes it is true, according to the confidential problem, I might not able to give you complete one.
It is an area called Pantin, and there's two buses picking the managers to the warehouse, departure from Madeleine and Saint Lazare station in Paris.

 

[Rom.roths]

Thank you for all the very interesting and informative posts! Now it makes sense why the stores act the way they do. Such a stressful system for the poor SMs.

Yes I always think to be a manager in Hermes is quite depressing, under the pressure from the company and the reputation.
I can assure everyone here if it's allowed and without the budget pressure, all the managers would love to satisfy every one who desires for a bag.
And I despise those who take benefits for their own as a condition to sell bags.
We salesmen the same want to satisfy the clients, we actually feel bad when we have to say no to clients and to see the disappointed face. We are only salesmen, we wish to see that everyone has a great shopping experience with us. We hate lies, one friend of mine left Hermes for the reason she told me " I cannot accept my life wasting here, answering a thousand 'NO' to clients everyday".
The system is depressing, for everyone, such as now we are more like policemen who need to check the passport of clients to distinguish the resellers. We are merely salesmen lol, not detectives.

 

[mistikat]

Yes I always think to be a manager in Hermes is quite depressing, under the pressure from the company and the reputation.
I can assure everyone here if it's allowed and without the budget pressure, all the managers would love to satisfy every one who desires for a bag.
And I despise those who take benefits for their own as a condition to sell bags.
We salesmen the same want to satisfy the clients, we actually feel bad when we have to say no to clients and to see the disappointed face. We are only salesmen, we wish to see that everyone has a great shopping experience with us. We hate lies, one friend of mine left Hermes for the reason she told me " I cannot accept my life wasting here, answering a thousand 'NO' to clients everyday".
The system is depressing, for everyone, such as now we are more like policemen who need to check the passport of clients to distinguish the resellers. We are merely salesmen lol, not detectives.

A few posts ago you said you were briefly employed as an intern. Your post above seems to indicate you are currently with Hermes as a salesperson. Could you perhaps clarify?