Has Hermès gone too far with its exclusive sales tactics? Customers reportedly spend over US$10,000 on accessories just to join a Birkin, Kelly or Constance waiting list – leading to outrage in China

Jun 26 , 2023

Hermès is renowned for its exclusivity and expensive price tags – but has it gone too far? Photo: AP

Customers must reportedly spend thousands on other Hermès products before earning the privilege to buy a bag, with dissatisfaction leading to the #Hermèsgame tag on TikTok

The practice, dubbed ‘pei huo’ or ‘matching purchase’ in China, puts clients willing to shell out on a fast track and weeds out the ‘flippers’ – a similar strategy to Rolex

To mark her 40th birthday, Hattie decided she wanted an Hermès handbag. Not a Birkin or a Kelly – she had been interested in fashion for long enough to know that you had to fight to get your hands on one of those – but a Constance in a pale mint green with a distinctive H on the buckle, for both the brand and her name.

Hattie’s husband took her to Paris to celebrate the big day and their plan was to visit the closest Hermès store to the hotel on the first morning to buy it.

Shoppers line up to visit anHermès luxury retail store in Shanghai, China, in May 2022. Photo: AP

“I walked into the boutique assuming I’d walk out with it, which I now realise was naive,” she says. “They were very polite and let me look at all the different Constance models, but I couldn’t buy one because apparently there were not nearly enough bags to meet demand. Instead, I would need to ‘create a relationship’ with them first.”

When she asked how exactly she was expected to do that, they hinted heavily that she should purchase other products first, and only then would they put her on a waiting list for the Constance.

“It felt wrong on many levels and I was really disappointed,” she says. “I can’t afford to buy lots of very expensive Hermès scarves and other accessories I don’t need just so I’m in with a chance to get the one I actually do. My husband and I ended up going to another brand – but it left me with a bad taste in my mouth.”

Mandy Bork wearing Agolde blue jeans, an Hermès Constance baby blue leather bag, and Hermès fur baby blue Chypre sandals in November 2022, in Berlin, Germany. Photo: Getty Images

The Hermès bag drought is nothing new – after all, Lucy Liu appeared in a 2001 episode of Sex and the City that referenced how impossible it was to get your hands on a Birkin. But more than 20 years later, the rise of chat rooms devoted to this very topic has allowed customers to better understand quite how much money they need to spend on other goods before they get a whiff of Hermès leather.

These forums cite ratios of around 1:1. In other words, spending US$10,000 on silk scarves, clothes and homeware in countries like the US will put you on a fast track waiting list for a US$10,000 Birkin 25. If you want a particularly sought-after model, then you might need to spend more than it is actually worth.