Three reasons for Hermès’s successful reopening in China
Follow-up reports confirm that, on its first day after reopening in April following lockdown, the Hermès store in Guangzhou took in record takings of $2.7 million.
While weeks of pent-up demand made that occasion special, luxury industry commentators now believe it also said a lot about Hermès in particular and that the Paris-based brand has managed to maintain the momentum of its successful restart.
A few years ago, it was accepted wisdom that very wealthy Chinese consumers made their most expensive purchases of luxury bags and other goods on trips to Europe. With overseas travel so reduced now, brands’ boutiques in Chinese cities are more popular among those high-net-worth people now. Consultancy Bain & Co has said it expects more than 50% of global luxury purchases to be in China within the next few years. This phenomenon will help other luxury brands too.
Hermès has also benefited, though, from having more of what Vogue has called non-seasonal products in its collections because fashion seasons are far less well defined in 2020.
Finally, commentators have said that Hermès devoting as much space in its collections and in its stores to products for men as for women. Its dependency on products for women or on cross-over products is, therefore, less than that of many of its rivals. This has helped it in China because 60% of its customers there are men.
