Luxury staff ‘background-checking’ customers: Scanning social media and even checking where they live

[Financial News] Allegations have emerged that French luxury brand Hermès, known for its strategy of being selective about which customers it sells to, has gone so far as to probe customers’ personal information to screen them, sparking controversy.
On the 15th, French fashion magazine Glitz reported that Hermès staff have been using Google to look up customers’ home addresses in order to determine whether they qualify to purchase a Birkin bag or a Hermès Kelly bag.
Journalist Louis Pisano told Glitz, “There are allegations that Hermès is effectively stalking its customers. Staff are searching for customers’ home addresses to check whether they live in a prestigious enough neighborhood to be deemed worthy of receiving a Birkin or Hermès Kelly bag.”
Birkin bags and Hermès Kelly bags are sold under Hermès’ strategy of preserving scarcity. Their prices range from about 15 million won to as high as 260 million won, but annual supply is capped at around 120,000 units.
Because of the chronic shortage, buyers typically have to wait two to three years, making the bags famous as items that many want but simply cannot buy.
There are also conditions attached to purchasing the bags. Customers must steadily buy other products such as accessories, scarves, and tableware, building up a purchase history of 50 to 100 million won. Only then does the store manager decide whether the customer is qualified to buy a Birkin bag. Customers who meet these conditions are merely allowed to see certain bags; they can only choose whether to buy the bag offered and reportedly cannot even choose the color.
According to Glitz, Hermès employees have also been accessing customers’ social media accounts to check the types of posts they upload. They are said to continuously monitor whether customers resell the bags after purchase and even observe customers’ clothing and behavior.
One sales associate told Glitz, “Customers who buy bags in large quantities or go from boutique to boutique shopping are highly likely to be flagged as a red flag.”
y27k@fnnews.com Seo Yoon-kyung Reporter