Amanda Liu

In this blog, I will be commenting on an external link blog that is about Hermès Fashion marketing strategy written by Macala Wright.  Before I head off to comment on Hermès marketing techniques, I will first provide a brief summary of the article. Macala Wright has mentioned that Hermès is a brand that doesn’t adjust its business strategy and prices subjecting to the economic times, which allows them to maintain its prestigious and luxurious image to the public by employing the strategy of “model of scarcity”. The CEO of Hermès, Patrick Thomas, has stated that Hermès is nowhere close of becoming “masstige”. Masstige, given in Macala’s blog, means a company that massively produces prestige goods to the public. She also has mentioned a really important aspect about Hermès, where the company has to take at least three years to train each artisan since Hermès leather goods are made by hands.

I believe Hermès has done a great job in planning and implementing its business strategy, and it is in fact effective in positioning in consumers’ mind and differentiating itself from its competitors. Unlike their other luxurious brands, such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Marc Jacob and etc., Hermès only produces a significant limited number of purse models for each design, which allows them to set a premium price for its products. I personally think this strategy can attract and capture many target segments’ attention towards Hermès product. As consumers are aware that Hermès only makes limited number of bags for each model, they are psychologically persuaded to check out their products, capturing the interest of their consumers. People tend to be psychologically pressured that they should buy exclusive items, therefore having something that others don’t possess, simultaneously allowing them to be unique and stand out from the crowds. People who seek status as an important aspect or those who has interest in purchasing either limited or non-limited edition purses are desired to possess such exclusive products and can call for action to purchase.

Moreover, in Macala’s blog, she mentioned that the company has to slow down and delay their potential production time because Hermès needs to spend at least three years to train each artisan to hand make the leather goods products.  Such an intensive training program can definitely ensure the products’ quality, and indeed it is worthwhile for the company to do so because it has helped Hermès in gaining an extremely prestigious reputation for its exclusiveness and quality. It’s good that the CEO keeps quality as the company’s priority when manufacturing the product because that’s mainly consumers’ priority when purchasing goods. Therefore, Hermès compromises consumers’ waiting time by offering exceptional product quality and durability to their consumers, guaranteeing them that their purchases will definitely be worthwhile since their purchase products will be unique and exclusive, where others are unlikely to be able to purchase the same Hermès bag you purchase, and can absolutely meet their high expectations of the products

I really like the CEO, Patrick Thomas, statement about Hermès bag- “If people buy a Hermès bag, they know it is going to last them for 40 years. The bag isn’t an expense, it’s an investment.” I agree that even though a Hermès bag is a costly expenditure, but it is in fact an investment because as we all know, in the long run, a Hermès will have a dramatic increase in its value. Therefore, it is an INVESTMENT not an EXPENSE!