The Hermes Birkin is one of the world’s most coveted handbags, with a two year waiting list and the devotion of many celebrities (have a look at this Google image search to see a few). By having a well-crafted product and attentive customer service, Hermes has found a way to keep prospective buyers interested and willing to wait for the bag they want. But this carefully maintained demand is at risk of evaporating if enough luxury-minded consumers read Michael Tonello’s new book Bringing Home the Birkin: My Life in Hot Pursuit of the World’s Most Coveted Handbag, out later this month.
In an interview with Reuters, Tonello exposed Hermes’s big secret: the two year waiting list doesn’t apply to Hermes’s best customers. He said:
I would go into a store with a list in my Hermes Ulysse notebook and pile up scarves, shawls, bracelets, worth about $2,000. This made me seem a regular Hermes client. Once I had that pile ready to buy at the last moment I’d ask for a Birkin and they would usually produce one of the back room. In 2005 I bought 130 Birkins in a three-month period — and you tell me there is a waiting list?
If Tonello is telling the truth (and there’s little reason to believe he isn’t–he says he has receipts to back up his story), he’s revealing some interesting things about Hermes–that the two year waiting list is an illusion, maintained to keep an air of exclusivity (and it seems to be working) and that Hermes made it a priority to keep their absolute best customers satisfied by giving them Birkins if they asked for them. They can’t have it both ways–it makes business sense to keep those willing to spend the most happiest, but Hermes benefit most in the long term by not giving preferential treatment to some customers.
[photo by yri]