Hermès
Celine Zheng
Brief Introduction
Thierry Hermès was born in 1801. Hermès was found in 1837 first started as a saddler in Paris. Napoléon III and the king of Russia were his clients back in that time. It was actually getting diverse in products after Emile Maurice Hermès (the grandson) took over. The first handbag was made starting in 1890 called Sac haut-a-croire and watches came out in 1927. However, today Hermès has over 14 product lines, for example, gloves, belts, jewelry, notebook, scarf, fragrances, ties, suits, shoes, and ashtray.
Hermès known as a French, family orientated high end leather goods and craftsmanship bases brand. Hermès also considered as vertical integration by owning its own subsidiary of production lines and produce their own labels. In addition, customers can reach the brand though Hermès boutique, official website, and department stores as well.
The most popular products today are Kelly bag, Birkin bag and Scarves. Kelly bag was named after Grace Kelly a famous American actress. She married Prince Rainier III of Monaco in 1956 and became the She was pregnant at that time and tried to stay away from paparazzi, and she covered the abdominal with her Hermes bag. At second day, this Hermes bag became of the cover page of the magazines, and became popular.
This is inspiration behind Birkin, Hermes Birkin bag was named after a French singer Jane Birkin. Jane Birkin and the 5th CEO of Hermes Jean-Louis Dumas were met on Air France in 1984. He recommended Jane to get a handbag that came with pocket because her items were fell everywhere and she responded I will buy one when Hermes make this bag.
This video is presented by Hermès, and it shows multi ways on styling a Maxi Twilly.
Hermès boutique inside of Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas
Article from Wall Street Journal
This article was published by The Wall Street Journal on March 25, 2014 on French brand Hermès. It simply covered the current issues, future trends and investments of Hermès. Axel Dumas, the new CEO took over in February 2014, he is the 6th generation of the Hermès family. LVMH recently invested 23% stake to Hermès. However, Mr. Dumas intended Hermès to be more independent and exclusive. Trends are also mentioned in next 10-20 years is continuing to invest in production facilities, tend to be more diverse and balanced, and geographical expansion included centered on Pacific Ocean, West Coast of US, and China to Southeast Asia.
Selling Channels
Window Display Pinterest Board
Four types of window displays
-Open-back
-Closed-back
-Glass storefronts
-Shadowboxes
Hermès Boutique International Locations
Hermès boutique, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Hermès George V, France
Hermès Madison, NYC
Pricing Structure
Hermès is an high end French luxury brand. It is owned as family owned bussiness, and most likely focus on craftmanship.Therefore, it is image dirven brand that sells the luxury lifestyle. In other words , Hermès is one price policy that never goes on sales and also consider as a passive retail pricing pratice. Meaning, the price of products remains fixed or increased due the time consuming in craftmanship and sometimes the currency rate between US and Europe can also affect the price. In addition, the factors of competitons in pricing practices are less considered due to the differentiated in products such as Kelly bag and Birkin bag. These two particular bags must be pre ordered (price range staring from $4,000-40,000 depends on types of leather) and time consuming.
References
http://www.hermes.com/index_us.html
http://fashionscollective.com/FashionAndLuxury/08/hermes/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=helMhCmEpM8&app=desktop
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303725404579461091109758208
http://www.pbase.com/image/100137569
http://www.voyagediscount.fr/img/upload/0/0/387/193809_DSC01524_610_457.JPG
http://www.bloomberg.com/image/if__yU2FqSBU.jpg
http://www.thecityreview.com/ues/madison/hermes2.gif
http://www.baike.com/wiki/%E7%88%B1%E7%8E%9B%E4%BB%95
http://baike.baidu.com/view/8087233.htm?fromtitle=hermes&fromid=32856&type=syn