12-20-2010 17:07
Will shoppers bear Vuitton's arrogance?
A male staff member stands at the entrance of the Louis Vuitton boutique at Lotte Avenuel, downtown Seoul. A Louis Vuitton staff member usually asks customers to wait in line before allowing entrance to the store, even if there are not many customers inside. / Korea Times photo by Cathy Rose A. Garcia
French luxury brand insists even one customer stand in line
By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
At any given time of the day, there are sure to be people waiting in line outside the Louis Vuitton boutique at Lotte Avenuel, downtown Seoul.
What are these people waiting for? Is there a sale? Are limited edition accessories being launched? Or perhaps a new collection is making its debut?
No to all of the above, these people are just waiting to be allowed inside.
To the uninitiated, it sounds positively bizarre to queue up just to enter a store that is not even having a sale. But apparently, restricting access to a store creates an impression among consumers that there is something inside that makes it worth lining up for. It seems a line outside a store does not serve as a deterrent, but on the contrary, it just seems to attract even more customers.
The Louis Vuitton store has the same collection of handbags, clothes, shoes and accessories that are sold around the world, whether it is in Seoul, Tokyo, New York, London or Paris.
The French luxury brand, owned by LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, is considered the world’s most powerful luxury brand in a 2010 study by Millward Brown Optimor. Its brand value is estimated at $19.78 billion.
The highly covetable handbags, with its iconic monogram canvas with quatrefoils, flowers and interlocking LV logo, are undoubtedly expensive, ranging from $700 to upwards of $3,000.
But few realize that the average markup on a luxury bag is ten to 12 times the production cost, as former Newsweek journalist Dana Thomas said in her 2007 book ``Deluxe.’’ In particular, Thomas cited Louis Vuitton as having the highest markup among luxury brands _ up to 13 times the production cost. This basically means a Louis Vuitton canvas tote bag that retails for $3,000 actually cost only around $230 to make.
This reporter visited several Louis Vuitton shops, both at department and duty-free stores, in Seoul to find out what the fuss is all about.
Louis Vuitton at Lotte
There are two Louis Vuitton stores in Lotte Town ― one is a two-level boutique at Lotte Avenuel and another is located at the Lotte Duty Free store.
This reporter paid a visit to the Louis Vuitton boutique at Lotte Avenuel on a weekday morning, hoping to avoid the long lines that are usually seen on weekends.
Surprisingly, there was still a line at the door. A sign, written in four languages, read: ``For your comfortable shopping, please wait for a little while.’’
A staff member directed me to stand behind two Japanese tourists. Figuring the waiting time could not be that long with only two people in front, this reporter decided to wait.
A peek inside the spacious and well-lit store showed there were not really a lot of customers, maybe six or seven. It seems customers were being made to wait so that a sales associate can provide a one-on-one service.
After five minutes, the two Japanese women were ushered inside, but not this reporter. A staff member handed a plastic covered Louis Vuitton pamphlet featuring the winter collection, perhaps to pass the time more quickly.
Just as this reporter was about to ditch the line and walk over to the Chanel store across the hall, finally after a total of 10 minutes of waiting, the store staff graciously allowed entry into the boutique.
A sales associate immediately handed over his calling card and asked what particular item is of interest. At the glass-topped counter, he put on gloves before handling a burgundy-colored Vernis long wallet priced at 925,000 won.
However, he looked distracted and started chatting with his co-worker, leaving this reporter with the wallet. This is not exactly the kind of exceptional one-on-one service that Louis Vuitton boasts of. Perhaps he realized that this customer was merely window-shopping, and not actually planning to buy anything.
The same kind of cold customer service was also apparent at the Louis Vuitton boutique at the Lotte Duty Free located on the 9th and 10th floors of Lotte Department Store. There was a short line, but it moved much more quickly perhaps because of the presence of more staff and a smaller space. On weekends, there are even longer queues.
The Louis Vuitton shop looks noticeably smaller because it is in a temporary location, and expansion is on-going. There weren’t a lot of handbags on display, so customers were given a thick catalog to browse through.
This particular shop reportedly chalks up $8 million in sales a month, due in large part to Japanese and Chinese tourists. With that kind of sales numbers, one would expect extremely good service right? But unfortunately, it seems like the Louis Vuitton duty free store is just simply focused on sales, and not much on service.
An unsmiling female sales associate perfunctorily attended to this reporter, who inquired about the Vernis long wallet. One got the feeling that the sales associate was impatient with the questions, but voluntarily brought out the wallet in four different colors.
The price of the wallet was 800,000 won, around 125,000 won cheaper than the price quoted at the Louis Vuitton boutique at Avenuel. Perhaps the lower prices at duty free stores mean lower quality of service?
Different locations, same concept
Louis Vuitton boutiques all over the world do not really have any distinctive qualities. Once you’ve been to one, you have been to all of them.
But perhaps the quality of service differs, depending on the location. The Louis Vuitton store at the posh Shinsegae Main Store has the same policy of limiting the number of people at the store at any given time, but there do not seem to be any lines on weekdays.
Maybe because there are fewer customers, the staff seem friendlier even window-shoppers like this reporter. The shop seemed relatively quieter than its counterpart in Lotte, allowing customers to spend as much time as they want inside the store.
There are also no lines at the free-standing Louis Vuitton flagship store in Cheongdam-dong. One can freely go inside the store and check out the full Louis Vuitton collection from shoes to trunks.
As a luxury brand, Louis Vuitton holds the promise of not just exceptional craftsmanship, but excellent customer service. If someone is buying (or at least thinking of buying) a 2 million won handbag, then Louis Vuitton should lavish attention and respect on that customer.
If one is not, or does not look like, a big spender, it seems Louis Vuitton staff members just give cold and perfunctory service. There is a feeling that unless one buys something, one is not quite welcome inside a Louis Vuitton boutique.
소비자들은 루이비통의 오만을 참아 낼 것인가?
하루 중 어느 때든 서울 롯데 백화점의 루이비통 매장 밖에는 사람들이 북새통을 이루고 있다.
이 사람들은 무엇을 위해 기다리고 있는가? 세일을 하고 있나? 한정판 액세서리를 런칭 했나? 아니면 새로운 컬렉션을 선보이나?
위의 내용과는 아무런 관계없이 이들은 단지 매장에 들어가기 위해 기다리고 있는 것이다.
특별한 지식이 없는 한, 세일도 하지 않는 매장에 단지 들어 가기 위해 줄을 서고 있는 것은 꽤나 유별나게 들릴 것이다. 그러나 분명히 매장의 접근을 제한하는 것은 고객들 사이에서 줄을 스는 것이 가치가 있을 만한 무엇인가가 안에 있을 것이라는 인상을 남긴다. 매장 밖에 줄을 서있는 것은 제지 효과를 내기는커녕 좀 더 많은 고객들을 끌어 당기는 것 같다.
루이비통 매장은 똑 같은 컬렉션의 핸드백, 옷, 신발 그리고 액세서리를 서울 뿐만 아니라 전세계 매장에서 팔고 있다.
LVMH 모엣 헤네시가 소유한 이 프랑스 명품은 2010년 세계에서 가장 영향력이는 명품으로 선정 됐으며, 이 브랜드의 가치는 197억 8천 달러로 측정 된다.
모두가 탐내는 상징적인 모노그램 캔버스 천에 네 잎사귀, 꽃 그리고 LV로고가 연결된 핸드백은 700달러부터 3000달러를 호가할 정도로 비싸다.
그러나 뉴스위크의 전 저널리스트 데이나 토마스가 2007년 그녀의 책 “럭셔리 그 유혹과 사치의 비밀”에서는 루이비통은 명품들 중 가장 높은 13배이상의 가격 인상을 한다고 했다. 이는 3000달러의 루이비통 토트백이 사실은 230달러 밖에 하지 않는 다는 의미다.
소공동 롯데 백화점 본점에는 두 개의 루이비통 매장이 있다. 2층의 롯데 백화점 명품관 과 면세점에 있다.
나는 주말에 종종 보았던 줄을 피해 평일의 이른 아침 롯데 명품관의 루이비통 매장을 방문했다.
놀랍게도, 문 앞에 사람들은 여전히 줄을 서있었다. 그리고 4개의 언어로 “편안한 쇼핑을 위해 조금만 기다려 주세요” 라고 쓰여있었다.
살짝 훔쳐 본 안의 풍경은 넓고 환한 매장에 6-7명의 고객뿐 이였다. 고객들을 밖에서 기다리게 하는 것은 판매원들의 일대일 서비스를 제공하기 위함인 거 같았다.
10분을 기다리고 나서야 매장 안으로 들어 갈 수 있었다.
판매원은 즉시 명함을 건네며 특별히 관심 있는 품목이 있냐며 물어보았다. 그는 92만 5000원의 자줏빛 적색의 베르니 장 지갑을 꺼내기 전 장갑을 꼈다.
그러나 그 판매원은 지갑을 보여 꺼내 주고서는 다른 직원과 이야기를 나누기 시작했다. 이것은 절대로 루이비통이 내세울 만한 일대일 서비스는 아니 였다. 아마도 그 직원은 내가 단지 구경하로 온 것이지, 실제로 물건을 사러 온 것은 아니라고 생각했던 것 같다.
이 같은 냉대는 롯데 면세점의 루이비통 매장에서도 확연히 들어 났다.
이 루이비통 매장은 확장공사로 인한 일시적인 매장이기에 눈에 띄게 작았다. 많은 가방이 전시 되어 있지 않았기에, 고객들은 두꺼운 책자를 받았다.
이 매장은 많은 일본과 중국 관광객들로 인해 한 달에 800만불 이상의 매출을 기록한다. 그러나 면세점은 단지 판매의 초점을 두기 때문에 서비스는 좋지 않았다.
면세점 지갑의 가격은 명품 관에 비해 약 450000원 가량 쌌다. 하지만 조금 더 싼 가격 이기에 서비스의 질도 낮아 져야 할까?
루이비통 매장의 질은 전세계적으로 별반 다를 게 없다.
하지만 서비스의 질은 매장에 따라 다른 것 같다. 신세계 매장도 같은 방침을 따르고 있지만 평일에는 줄이 없다.
아마 고객들이 적기에 매장 직원들이 구경만 하러 온 사람들에게도 친절함을 잃지 않는 것 같다.
명품으로써 루이비통은 훌륭한 제품을 보여주는 것도 중요하지만 고객서비스도 신경써야만 할 것이다.
cathy@koreatimes.co.kr
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