Hidden Events
“In the past few months, we’ve signed deals for the first time with brands that didn’t work with us for the previous four years,” said Villet, who also introduced “hidden events” this year, restricted to VIP customers and catering to brands that didn’t want public sales to tarnish their image. Some recent rounds of discounting have been low-profile, with word of private sales conveyed to regular customers through personal mail, text messages to their mobile phones, or popular online messaging apps such as Tencent Holdings’ WeChat. Cartier, the maker of $50,000 watches, sent a WeChat message in June telling some of its customers about a “high jewelry exhibition” with “all pieces at Hong Kong prices” in North China. Customers could follow up with a salesperson for details.
Luxury Outlets
A spokeswoman for Hermes said April’s Hangzhou sales were held outside its own stores, similar to what it does in Paris, and the brand has organized such sales in past years in Beijing and Shanghai. A Richemont spokesman said the company doesn’t comment on specific markets, while Ferragamo and Zegna staff were on summer holiday and couldn’t respond to questions about the sales. A spokesman for LVMH, parent of handbag maker Louis Vuitton, said the company doesn’t organize discounted sales. Kering declined to comment, and Dior didn’t reply to e-mailed queries. Luxe brands’ excess inventory puts pressure on companies to open more than the current small number of outlet stores in China to sell discounted off-season items, said Armando Branchini, Milan-based vice chairman of Italian luxury brand association Fondazione Altagamma. Such stores tend to be in malls located far from central shopping districts, reducing the potential for harm to brands’ reputations, he said. Hu, the fashion-loving marketing manager, said that brands need to restrict the frequency of sales to avoid alienating luxury shoppers like her who don’t want to be associated with bargain goods. “If the sales are once or twice a year, it’s fine,” she said. “If you discount too often, it just spoils your position as a luxury brand.” (Bloomberg)
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