The sales associate at the counter frowned and said, “Sir, the price of this bag is 580,000.” Charlie responded casually, “No problem, I want it.” However, the sales associate added, “Sir, I’m sorry, but buying this bag requires a distribution process.”
Surprised, Charlie asked, “What do you mean by distribution? Can’t I just purchase the bag directly?” The sales associate smirked slightly, saying, “Sir, is this your first visit to our Hermès? Haven’t you shopped with us before?”
Charlie nodded, “No, I haven’t. What’s the issue with that?”
The sales associate exined, “Many Hermès bags aren’t just avable for anyone to buy. You can freely choose and buy basic items under 300,000, but anything priced above that is usually a limited edition!”
“Don’t be misled by the store price of this bag—580,000. Once you take it out, you could easily resell it for seven to eight hundred thousand. Therefore, to buy this bag, you either need to be a senior member of Hermès and make an appointment with our store manager, or you must purchase a certain amount of other items. These additional items must not be popr ones, and you’ll need to spend a total of 500,000 to qualify for this bag,” she continued.<h3 style="background-color:DodgerBlue">
Charlie frowned at this. “So, you’re saying that in order to buy this bag, I have to purchase 500,000 worth of other items first?”
“That’s correct,” the sales associate confirmed with a smile. “This rule is followed by Hermès worldwide. Didn’t you know? Or were you just hoping to get lucky and snag this bag without following the process?”
Hermès limited-edition handbags are known for their impressive resale value. In fact, some styles can fetch higher prices on the second-hand market than their original retail prices, a result of Hermès’ clever marketing strategy.
Unlike other brands where you can simply buy what you want, Hermès has a different approach. The resale prices are often much higher than the in-store prices, which means to buy something from their store at the retail price, you often need to spend hundreds of thousands, if not millions, on other items.
Thus, acquiring a limited-edition bag can easily require an investment of over one million. However, Hermès has a shrewd strategy; they allow purchases only of slower-moving items rather than their popr ones.
Items that are harder to sell can be quite absurd; for example, an 18k gold ring might cost around 1,000 to produce, but with the Hermès brand, it can sell for 50,000, 80,000, or even more than 100,000. Such rings often go unsold unless offered at a steep discount.<fn3696> Find the newest release on fι?dnοvel</fn3696>
Despite understanding Hermès’ rules, Charlie didn’t feel angry. epting their policy, he said, “In that case, I can buy other items totaling 500,000, correct?” The sales associate’s eyes lit up, not expecting Charlie to be a customer willing to spend that amount.
With renewed enthusiasm, she hurried over, saying respectfully, “Sir, let me show you the items that qualify for distribution in our shop. You can see what you might need.”
Charlie nodded and mentioned, “I noticed amon style handbag, priced around 160,000. Can that count for distribution?”
“Yes,” the sales associate replied without hesitation. “That bag is priced at 158,888, so you would still need to spend about another 340,000.”
As Charlie began to look at other options, a woman’s voice called from the door, “Tanaka, I want to see Hermès!” A man’s voice followed, “Don’t look, we need to head to the boarding gate.”
The spoiled woman pleaded, “But we have half an hour before boarding! Just let me look around a bit.” The man responded, somewhat helplessly, “Fine, but we can only stay for twenty minutes!”
“Tanaka, you’re so kind!” she eximed.
At that moment, a young couple entered the store. Charlie recognized the man immediately; it was Koichi Tanaka, who had previously been seen with Nanako Ito. How could he possibly be here? <h3 ss="has-text-align-center" id="chapter-list"><strong></strong>