Louis Vuitton,
which is the flagship brand of LVMH group has recently repositioned its offer by
increasing the price of leather bags.
The “Capucine” and the “W” models are significant examples. They respectively
cost 3500€ and 2500€ which is much more than the traditional canvass “Monogramme”
bags (from 600€ to 1100€). Louis Vuitton customers are indeed looking for more
rare, discrete, without a featured logo and exclusive bags. Thus, the “Capucine”
and the” W” bags are willingly merchandised near the exotic leather ones as to
develop a feeling of exclusivity. There is also a waiting list for the ones who
really want to get it. The more the models are difficult to obtain, the more
they attract customers. However, this is far from the Birkin or the Kelly bags
that Hermès sells from 6000€ to 30000€ euros. The price depends on the nature
of the leather: common bags in calfskin will cost about 6000 euros whereas exotic
leathers will cost from 15000€. A strategy Louis Vuitton and Hermès have in
common is the special orders. The customer is able to get a bag in function of
his/her specific needs and tastes. The waiting time is very long, about 6
months before being delivered. Louis Vuitton even goes further by offering a
free personalization to any customers. It consists in writing the initials of
someone on a specific part a canvass bag.
Louis
Vuitton and Hermes strongly compete on behalf of their offer. But we can wonder
to what extent the experience and the services contribute to the product.
According to Vincent Bastien (Luxe
Oblige, Eyrolles), the luxury product is always composed of the core
product and a service. A luxury product is a complete experience for the
customer. For instance, at the very beginning of his life, Louis Vuitton was packer: he was coming to his customers’ house in order to prevent that the
personal goods were not destroyed during the journey. Today Louis Vuitton brand
is pursuing the services by offering an experience to each of its customers. Louis
Vuitton salesperson are trained for offering a “Louis Vuitton signature” to
customers. It can be defined as the norms and the values of the brand in order
to guarantee a unique and personalized customer experience. The objective is to
share Louis Vuitton philosophy and its key elements. Thus, the customer
experience at Louis Vuitton is base on four pillars: the hosting, the store visit,
the understanding of the needs and the interest in the customer. Run to the
flagshipstore if you want to live a real customer experience! Hermès uses most
the brand content for offering customer experience. The famous videos called “Les
Mains d’Hermès” or "l'Artisanat selon Hermès" unveils all the secrets of the know-how of the brand. It
enables to the customer to enter in its universe and to create a strong
emotional link with the brand.
Click on the following link to see “La Maison d’Hermès”
video: http://www.lesmainsdhermes.com/fr/film
Mélissa Oliveira
Sources:
