When you think luxury brands, you think Gucci, YSL, and Louis Vuitton but probably haven't heard of Hermès which is slowly becoming the world's most profitable brand in the luxury goods sector.
The rise of Hermès is indeed an interesting topic, so scroll through the article to know about how Hermès rose and its contribution to the fashion industry.
Who Are Hermès?
Hermès International or Hermès of Paris or Hermes is a French luxury brand that manufactures various goods, which was founded in 1837. For many years it has remained the most valuable luxury brand for different valuations. Rich Heritage, Professional work, craftsmanship, and many such reasons have made Hermès achieve such a position across the world.
According to a report, Hermès is the 2nd most valuable company in 2020, with a brand evaluation of almost $47 Billion following Louis Vuitton with a brand valuation of $75 Billion. But in profitability, Hermès surpasses LV.
Their leather goods and saddlery contribute 50% of the company's total revenue. The second contributor is ready-to-wear clothes and accessories, around 23%. Which is followed by silk and textiles, around 9%.
Hermès: Business Model
1. Creativity: The first strategy used in creativity. Every year the designers of the company are provided with various themes for creating their products and designing accordingly. For instance, in 2019 the theme was “ in the pursuit of dreams”. In simple words, there is always a collaboration between the company and its designers for achieving a quality product.
2. Store Management: Store managers who sell products of this company are given full freedom to manage their sales and also purchase products according to the demand of the customers.
Every year 1,000 global store managers come to Paris to attend an event named PODIUM, where each store manager is allowed to pick one flagship product (handbags, ties, fragrances, scarves, watches). The main objective here is to showcase and also sell its flagship products across the world through its stores.
3. Craftsmanship: For every craftsman who is working under the company, they have to take mandatory 2-year training from a trained craftsman before starting their work.
This however slows down the manufacturing speed, but the company believes that proper training will increase the quality of their products as there will be more professionals. Each year 200 craftsmen are hired by the company. Each product is made by an individual craftsman.
4. Authenticity: Hermès never aims of having celebrity endorsements for marketing, they have always stayed from all this. They believe in word-of-mouth marketing which is slowly building a loyal fanbase for its products.
Hermès has always been a follower of the “limited edition” strategy, and they also prefer distributing less in their stores. Their products are always luxurious and costly and are never discounted.
Exclusivity of Hermès
Hermès Birkin bags are considered to be the most expensive bags in the world. Starting from $9000. Costlier than gold, the world's costliest bag is the Hermès Himalaya Birkin bag which costs around $500,000.
In order to buy these exclusive bags, you need to be a constant and loyal shopper of Hermès then only they considered or worthy to buy these bags, Even after this many don't get a chance to get your favorite bag as the company offers or shows only one bag at a time and if you reject it then you will be removed your the company's worthy list. Reasons such as this the Berkin bags are considered as an asset with the price of used bags increasing faster than the S&P 500.
The company comes with elite products which are all loved by women across the world. Showing off those bags and also adding those bags to their wardrobe is still a dream for many women. The reason Hermès bags are exclusive is that they are rare, limited, high quality, and costly and everyone wants limited edition products.
Future Of The Fashion Industry
Like every other industry Fashion industry is also changing. So what is the future of this industry and what are the changes we can expect in the future? The answer to these questions are given below:
1. Data-Driven: Those days are gone when people used to wear those which used to be designed by the company, now the time is changing. Companies now examine the needs, preferences, and patterns of shopping of the customers to make new products.
Many preferences such as social media look, color, sessional dress, and many others are all researched by the companies for creating new products. Gathering data is the best way to be more creative. This method will continue in the future as well with some more modifications.
2. Simplicity: Compared to the olden days it is seen that the fashion industry is getting simpler, both in delivery and design. There used to be eight collections per year, which meant that the clothes used to remain in the store for a long time before customers could buy them.
But now we will also witness in the future as well that there are only two collections a year now, one for the summer and another for the winter. This process also saves money and the environment.
3. Digital: The fashion industry, especially after the pandemic, is becoming more digital. People now prefer buying clothes online instead of going to a store. This is also the change we are witnessing and will keep on witnessing in the future as well on a large scale.
Conclusion
Hermès was and still is the most luxury brand across the world. With exclusive and limited products it is ruling the market. Not only in the present, but the company's future looks very safe and secure as it is very disciplined with highly trained employees and a perfect business strategy.
