Why Hermès Sells So Well

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Among the many high-end, super luxury brands, Hermès may be the one that has the most exclusive feel to it. Dior, Chanel, Fendi—those are all well and good, but there's just something about Hermès and its dedicated customers who are willing to shell out thousands of dollars for simple, well-made things from a card case to the now iconic Birkin bag. Not only are the goods expensive as hell, but they sell like fucking hotcakes. Since Hermès just opened a new store in D.C., The Washington Post examined just how it gets those items to fly off the shelves and into the homes of 1%ers around the world.

In essence, as the modern customer has come to expect the shopping experience to be easier than ever, Hermès makes theirs difficult on purpose. It's not on Twitter, though it does maintain a beautiful Instagram page, and its website doesn't mimic the super sleek, modern designs most high-end brands opt for nowadays, instead going with a nostalgic scrapbook look. The clothes are rarely on models, but drawings of models instead. Hermès also only officially sells products through its own website, nowhere else. Some Hermès devotees are even willing to drop $250 for a monthly box of Hermès scraps put together into a little trinket—literally selling trash to people who are willing to buy it.

This overall contrarian model seems to work for Hermès despite how much of an outdated outlier it happens to be in the grand scheme of the market. People view luxury differently and the exclusivity and difficulties that come with actually purchasing a Hermès product motivates their customers. What a fucking world. I'd love to visit sometime.

[Photo via Wikipedia]

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