Hermès handbag auction prices plummet

Under the impact of continuous market volatility, wealthy consumers around the world have begun to tighten their wallets, and the status of Hermès Birkin as a hard currency in luxury handbags is at stake.

According to fashion business news, Christie’s auction house held a spring auction of cheap Hermes handbags and accessories in Hong Kong on May 23. https://www.replicashermesoutlet.com/ The total turnover of 189 products was 52.5974 million Hong Kong dollars. https://www.luxurytotebag4u.com/ The three most expensive handbags in this round of auctions were Himalayan Nile crocodile skins. Hermes Platinum Hermès platinum bags and Kelly handbags, as well as a bespoke matte black alligator Kelly Doll handbag, sold for between HK$1.6 million and HK$1.7 million, less than RMB 1.5 million.

Christie’s auction house held a spring auction of handbags and accessories in Hong Kong on May 23. The picture shows the three most expensive handbags in this round.

It is worth noting that the Shop Our Hermes Bags Himalayan Nile crocodile leather handbag has always been the most sought-after product in fashion auctions. Last year, a Himalayan Kelly 28 handbag set with 18k white gold and diamonds set a world record with a price of 4 million Hong Kong dollars in Hong Kong. The Himalayan Kelly 25 handbag without diamonds was auctioned for HK$3.3 million in 2020. That means the auction value of Hermès’ most valuable handbag product has shrunk by nearly 50% in just two years.

Hermès’ limited-edition small house platinum bag and a hard-to-find Kelly woven handbag also shrunk to 840,000 yuan and 1.01 million yuan in this auction, and the original price of 5 million yuan for Hermès high-definition platinum and diamond watches is even more cliff-hanging. fell to 140,000 yuan.

In addition, the average transaction price of Hermes ordinary platinum bags is about 150,000 yuan, and the transaction price of rare skin platinum bags such as ostrich skin and lizard skin is between 200,000 yuan and 500,000 yuan. One set of 6 limited-edition Hermes Kelly 28 handbags and 6-letter pendants sold for 500,000 yuan, with an average price of 80,000 yuan. Another matte crocodile leather Birkin, valued at between 300,000 and 400,000 yuan, was not offered.

In stark contrast, the two spring auctions held by Christie’s Hong Kong Watch Department recorded a total turnover of nearly HK$300 million, setting the highest turnover of fashion in Asia’s Watch Department. ): “Ingenuity and Art” even achieved a white glove success, with all 73 lots sold for a total of HK$156 million.

Christie’s “Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite Jewelry” spring auction also attracted bids from buyers from 13 countries and regions on four continents. A necklace consisting of 33 top imperial green jade beads was bid by a telephone bidder at a price of about HK$69,037,500. Collected by collectors, the total auction turnover was HK$450 million.

As one of the world’s major auction houses, Christie’s brings together the world’s most consuming groups. The sharp drop in the auction price of Hermès quickly attracted widespread attention.

Some industry insiders pointed out that although the transaction price of the above-mentioned Hermes handbags is still higher than the market price, the transaction price of some products is almost the same as the cost required for consumers to go to the store for distribution and purchase new handbags, and the signal sent is affluent consumption. Consumers’ recognition of the value of luxury handbags is waning.

Earlier analysis believed that the main buyers of Hermès are “rich wives”, who are less sensitive to changes in social situations, and female consumers have more social occasions. But according to the latest data from Bloomberg, as uncertainty in the global market surges, the world’s top 50 richest people have lost more than $500 billion this year, and the wealthy will naturally invest in more stable top jewelry and high-end watches.

Hermès iconic Birkin bag was originally a logo-free bag made of high-grade calfskin, originating from a chance encounter between French actress Jane Birkin and Hermès chairman Jean-Louis Dumas on an airplane in 1984. Due to the difficulty of buying, For more than 30 years, platinum bags have ranked high in the value of handbags and have become the object of investment appreciation.

According to Baghunter data, the S&P 500 index and gold have different gains and losses every year, but the value of Hermes platinum bags has never fallen, and the average annual value of platinum bags has increased by 14.2%. There is even data showing that even in recessions and difficult times, platinum cladding has not fallen in value and is considered the least volatile asset.

The luxury online retail platform Baghunter has released a surprising data. By comparing the return on investment of gold, stocks and platinum bags in the past 35 years, it is found that the return rate of Hermes platinum bags is the highest, and the value-added is even as high as more than 500%. This feature is infinitely magnified in special times.

However, since 2017, Hermès has continued to increase production by adding factories to meet the rising demand of Chinese consumers. The situation of hard-to-find platinum bags has been alleviated. The number of platinum bags on the global market has exceeded 1 million, and the transaction premium has been collected. narrow.

In 2020, Vestiaire Collective, a second-hand luxury goods trading website, came up with a list of the 10 most valuable handbags based on the statistics of 75,000 handbag transactions that occurred on its platform. The ranking of Hermes platinum bags slipped to third, followed by Chanel. The classic Timeless bag, followed by Louis Vuitton’s Speedy.

With the rise of the metaverse concept, the platinum bags created by artists in the virtual world are also competing with Hermes for share. Hermès officially launched legal proceedings earlier this year against digital artist Mason Rothschild for selling about 100 virtual handbags called “MetaBirkins” in the virtual marketplace Basic Sapce, which were similar to the platinum Hermès launched in the 1980s. The bag is the same, and the single price is 250,000 yuan, far exceeding the official price of the platinum bag.

In order to avoid a similar situation from happening again, Hermès not only asked for compensation, but also an injunction against Mason Rothschild’s NFT, delete all product examples, and hand over the domain name of the MetaBirkin website to Hermès.

Although Basic.Space has removed the relevant information of MetaBirkin, MetaBirkin’s Instagram account has more than 20,000 followers, and it can still link to the address of purchasing a series of NFT products. Mason Rothschild also publicly stated that he did not manufacture or sell fake platinum bags, but only sold his own creations of art.

To make matters worse, in addition to the decline in prices in the auction and resale markets, Hermes, which still maintains an annual price increase, has also underperformed its competitors amid the repeated price hikes of luxury brands after the outbreak. At the end of last year, the price of the Chanel classic flap handbag, which has increased by 60% in three years, has exceeded the price of Hermes platinum bag in Europe.

According to Chanel’s latest fiscal year 2021 performance data, its sales rose 49.6% year-on-year to $15.6 billion, a record high, surpassing Hermes. Although Hermes’ overall revenue rose by 42% to 8.982 billion euros last year, the sales of the leather goods and harness department, where the platinum bag is located, unexpectedly fell by 5.4% to 1.015 billion euros in the fourth quarter.

Various signs may have sounded the alarm for Hermes, and the brand’s strategic layout is developing in a more balanced direction. Following the appointment of Gregoris Pyrpylis as creative director of beauty in January, Hermès announced Clémande Burgevin Blachman as creative director of the brand’s fashion accessories department in early March.

Clémande Burgevin Blachman used to be the vice president of design at Calvin Klein’s home line Calvin Klein Home, responsible for the creative design of all furniture collections, and has extensive experience as a creative consultant for Alaïa, a luxury brand under Richemont Group. Some analysts predict that under the leadership of Clémande Burgevin Blachman, the Hermès fashion accessories business will achieve greater improvement.

Given that jewelry and watches have become the focus of the wealthy crowd, Hermès is also accelerating its deployment in the high-end jewelry field. It held a high-end jewelry series exhibition in Singapore earlier this year to release the brand’s new Kellymorphose high-end jewelry series, which is inspired by The brand’s iconic Kelly handbag, Hermès jewelry creative director Pierre Hardy has redesigned the buckles, padlocks and keys on the Kelly handbag into fine jewelry.

At the 2022 “Watches and Miracles” Haute Horlogerie Exhibition, replica Hermes released 7 new watch works in one breath, namely Hermes Roaming Time Watch, Kelly Watch, H08 Watch, Heure H Watch, Minute Repeater Flywheel watch, punk horse pocket watch and soaring dream watch.

Thanks to the effective balance strategy, in the first quarter as of the end of March, the handbags and leather goods sector, the core revenue source of Hermès, ushered in recovery, up 21% year-on-year to 1.197 billion euros, followed by ready-to-wear and accessories, which rose sharply year-on-year. 50.1% to 710 million euros, and other departments of Hermes, where household products are located, also recorded a strong increase of 44.4% to 330 million euros, becoming the third largest business of Hermes.

During the reporting period, Hermes perfume and beauty revenue rose 20% to 119 million euros, silk and textiles revenue rose 33.3% to 198 million euros, and watch revenue rose 71.5% to 134 million euros, the fastest growing business. .

Axel Dumas, CEO of Hermès, said that the performance of the first quarter reflects the strong market demand for Hermès products, and consumers remain confident in the quality and craftsmanship of the brand. He further revealed that despite the uncertain environment, the group is accelerating the process of strategic investment, recruitment and training.

What is certain is that after achieving the best results in 185 years last year, Hermès is conducting a full value chain review from the source, exploring a more sustainable development model, in order to consolidate its irreplaceable advantages in the industry. Again, in an economy that sees uncontrolled creation above all else.