Do You Want To Buy Bags First? It Is Difficult To Remove The Hidden Rules Of Hermes.

In order to buy a favorite Hermes brand package, consumers must first buy other products in the store before they have the opportunity to buy the products they like. A few days ago, media reports reported that Hermes had invisible "standard of delivery". The customer service response of Hermes China said that if the salesmen asked consumers to distribute goods for buying bags, this behavior violated the company regulations, and consumers could complain, and the company would deal with it seriously. Recently, reporters in Shanghai interview found that in the process of customer consumption, Hermes stores still exist distribution behavior, the existence of these plugging points and pain points in the consumer market is always difficult to eliminate.

"Buy and buy" in "hidden cat"

The so-called "distribution" is that consumers want to buy a hot product, they must first buy other related products, and the amount reaches a certain proportion, only then have the opportunity to buy this product. In this case, the purchase of a hot product is often paid extra. For example, to buy an explosive package of Hermes, a package price of 8 million yuan, and to buy 80 thousand yuan or even higher value of other items.

For consumers and media questions, Hermes China said that the company did not have such a regulation, nor did it have the word of rationing. The package would be sold to customers as long as there was stock, not scheduled, not display items. However, a survey by the economic reference daily found that the response of Hermes is not consistent with the facts.

Located at the junction of Huaihai Road and Songshan road in the center of Shanghai, there is a four story building, the fifth "Hermes house" in Shanghai. Ms. Yin from Shanghai has bought experience in the store of Hermes house and Hermes Shanghai national gold center, and has also bought Hermes products abroad. She told reporters that the popular styles of the Hermes counters basically need to buy a certain amount of other commodities to qualify for purchase. The so-called "goods distribution" phenomenon exists widely in domestic and international counters, especially in China, which is an unspoken rule for many years.

The practice of Hermes is very covert. In my purchase experience, sales did not personally say the word "distribution", but implicitly hinted at what to buy again, because the salesperson had previously indicated that the "distribution" was a precedent for customer complaints. "Two" "Ms. Yin said," it seems completely mandatory, but it is necessary to buy the same price or even higher level of other products, which makes people feel that the rights and interests of consumers are infringed. "

Mr. Chen, a VIP customer of Hermes, admitted to reporters that the salesperson had clearly identified the two words of "distribution" in his communication with him. Mr. Chen, a ten year old customer of Hermes, told reporters that Hermes provided him with "one to one" service staff. The other side never mentioned the word "distribution" for two words, but also helped him make some distribution arrangements. "Green onion is unsalable, and meat is scarce, so buying meat and shallot, and Hermes's consideration is that the marketing strategy of selling goods with best selling products not only solves the liquidity problem of backlog commodities, but also makes the explosive products more precious. "Mr. Chen said.

Ms. Ji from Shanghai is a frequent visitor to Hermes Plaza, Shanghai. In an interview with reporters, she said that when proposing to buy a bag, the store's sales clearly indicated that it required "distribution", and told that "goods allocated" did not contain leather goods. "This brand is very" proud and charming ". The ratio of" distribution "has no fixed standard. The salesperson has certain authority to decide the ratio of" distribution ". "Ms. Ji told reporters.

"Distribution" has become a disguised "feedback".

In view of the media attention of Hermes stealth "distribution standard", when a reporter asked whether the salesperson of the Shanghai special store would change their marketing strategy, the salesperson said that almost every year, the news about Hermes's "distribution" was launched, but in fact, it was a kind of "feedback" for customers to record the customers' purchase of the explosive package.

A person who worked in Hermes Beijing store said: "in the exclusive store," distribution "is a sensitive word, and sales can not be exported. But it is not what customers want to buy, but what they want to sell. Especially, they can not sell directly to customers who do not have a total consumption. "

"We never have the word" distribution ". People with a certain record of consumption can have the qualifications to buy bursting bags. This is a feedback to customers. People who do not have a record of consumption want to buy bursting bags, and we can only ask customers to fill in waiting lists. "The clerk of the Shanghai special store added," if the bag is sold, the bag wall in the shop will be empty. "

According to industry sources, the luxury industry has adopted more than one marketing method. An industry insider told reporters that the so-called "distribution" was not recognized by the brand official, but it still existed all year round and became the hidden rule in the industry. "The role of the store manager is very important. The commodities of the general section will be allocated according to the location of each store and the passenger flow. As long as a store receives the limited edition or hot money, it will not worry about its performance. After all, the outlets such as second-hand stores, buyer shops, and e-commerce platforms can not guarantee the authenticity of the goods, which also increases the right of the shop owners to speak. "

Hermes group's latest performance shows that Hermes group's revenue in 2018 was close to 6 billion euros, net profit rose 15% to 1 billion 400 million euros, and operating profit increased 6.4% to 20 billion euros. Among them, sales in China are particularly strong. The performance report shows that in addition to the classic package and new package, the sales volume of Hermes shoes and bracelets is also considerable.

High growth market has "pain point"

It is reported that the Shanghai market supervisory authority has made further understanding about the sales behavior of Hermes. At the same time, the Shanghai consumer protection committee told reporters that they will continue to pay attention to subsequent consumer complaints.

Reporters interviewed relevant experts about whether the sales strategy of Hermes was in violation of relevant laws and regulations. Liu Chunquan, a lawyer at Shanghai branch of Beijing Guangsheng law firm, believes that the current anti unfair competition law has deleted the relevant provisions of "prohibiting tying", mainly considering that besides the right of consumers to purchase goods independently, businesses also have certain right to operate independently. Therefore, as long as Hermes did not require consumers to buy goods during forced trading, it would not violate this provision.

From the perspective of the right to know, Zhu Yiyi, a lawyer from Shanghai lawyer, believes that the eighth provision of the consumer protection law stipulates that consumers have the right to know their purchase or use of goods or to accept the true circumstances of their services. At the same time, the twentieth provision provides that operators should provide consumers with information about the quality, performance, use, and expiration date of goods or services, and shall be truthful and comprehensive. No false or misleading publicity can be made. Therefore, businesses should provide clear, honest and objective commodity information to consumers. On this basis, the two sides can make a clear spanaction. However, whether the inventory information of the product belongs to the regulation scope of "consumer's right to know", whether it is suspected of infringing the "consumer's right to know" is controversial.

However, it is necessary to have a certain amount of consumption to purchase a commodity, or to be suspected of violating the fair trading rights of consumers. According to Zhu Yiyi analysis, according to the tenth provision of the law on the protection of consumers' rights and interests, consumers enjoy the right to fair trade and are entitled to fair trading conditions such as quality assurance, reasonable price and correct measurement. In this regard, Hermes set up the invisible consumer cumulative conditions, which requires further investigation and evidence collection by relevant departments.

Experts say that such an international brand like Hermes has a strong legal team, often means concealment, so that it can "skillfully" avoid risk of compliance. However, whether the above practices violate China's relevant laws and regulations, the marketing method of Hermes is still open to question. Although the brand has the demand for marketing, but the product itself is the concern of all consumers. If it consumes its brand effect to do marketing, it will consume the brand's goodwill over time.

The 2018 annual China luxury market research released by global management consulting firm Bain showed that last year, the overall sales of China's luxury goods market continued to grow for 2017 years, and the growth rate reached 20% in second consecutive years. The total consumption of Chinese luxury goods accounted for 33% of the global market share.

Bai Ming, deputy director of the International Market Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, believes that there will be more demand for high-end consumption in China in the future, and consumers will become increasingly mature. If the brand wants to have long-term development in the Chinese market, it must respect the Chinese consumers, so as to realize the win-win situation between consumers and operators.

In the course of globalization, China's role in economic globalization has changed from "world factory" to "China market", and consumption has strongly supported China's sustained and steady economic growth. Chen Xinlei, vice president and marketing professor of Shanghai Higher School of finance, said that there are still some plugging points and pain points to be solved in China's consumer market. Market organizations should pay more attention to the needs and feelings of consumers, and market regulation should turn more to protect consumers' interests. China should strive to standardize its own consumption market through laws and regulations, so as to further stimulate the potential of consumption and market vitality.