20 replies to this topic

[snowybeagle]

All the talk of LJM on marching down Champs Elysées Avenue got me to recall the year 2000 when I was on honeymoon in Paris.

We were strolling down the Champs Elysées Avenue, without actually thinking of shopping 'cos we couldn't afford to, but we wanted to catch the sights, when out of the blue, we got approach by a couple of mainland Chinese ladies.

They told us a story of how the LV shop refused to sell them their bags despite them having the cash to pay for it, with some explanation about how there's a quota for mainland Chinese to purchase branded stuff. They couldn't use credit cards 'cos they didn't have any.

My first thought was : was the LV shop suspecting the Chinese of buying the stuff to be copied?

Or did the PRC government got the French government to agree to some capital flight limit in restricting the RMB?

Walking further down, we got approached by several more mainland Chinese.

First they asked if we were Chinese from X or Y (anywhere but PRC).
Then they asked us for our help to make the cash purchase for them of LV or branded stuff.

And boy, did they know their branded goods.

[Liang Jieming]

Hmmm... that is strange. Come to think of it, we were asked for our passports before we could make our payments. I didn't think anything of it at the time but were they checking us for PRC citizenships too?

[fcharton]

We were strolling down the Champs Elysées Avenue, without actually thinking of shopping 'cos we couldn't afford to, but we wanted to catch the sights, when out of the blue, we got approach by a couple of mainland Chinese ladies.

They told us a story of how the LV shop refused to sell them their bags despite them having the cash to pay for it, with some explanation about how there's a quota for mainland Chinese to purchase branded stuff. They couldn't use credit cards 'cos they didn't have any.

My first thought was : was the LV shop suspecting the Chinese of buying the stuff to be copied?

Or did the PRC government got the French government to agree to some capital flight limit in restricting the RMB?

Walking further down, we got approached by several more mainland Chinese.

First they asked if we were Chinese from X or Y (anywhere but PRC).
Then they asked us for our help to make the cash purchase for them of LV or branded stuff.

And boy, did they know their branded goods.

This is still true now, not specifically directed at chinese, though. The people you met were probably traffickers : they buy LV bags and stuff and resell them (with a premium) to tourists (mostly asians) who do not have the time to go to the shop. Louis Vuitton is trying to discourage this "black market" traffic (I heard that there were scams in some cases), so they will not sell many bags to one person, and the people you met will try to convince others to buy for them.

They will not just ask chinese, I was asked several times to buy stuff on their behalf... But a chinese person entering the shop and buying one bag will certainly have no problem. I am not sure about the passport thing Jieming describes, it might be to avoid the trafficking (most traffickers are illegal aliens), or something connected to "duty free buys".

Francois

Edited by fcharton, 19 June 2006 - 05:04 AM.

[snowybeagle]

Tourists who don't have time to buy ... boy, what a waste.
The service at the shops like LV is an experience in itself.

I suppose it's the equivalent of ticket scalping, though there's really no law against it, is there?

[fcharton]

I suppose it's the equivalent of ticket scalping, though there's really no law against it, is there?

Actually, there is one in this case. A shop cannot resell Vuitton (or any other brand) stuff without agreement from Vuitton. But these people are not resellers, it is just a black market thing, and given the demand of Vuitton bags from asian tourists, the black market would take very little time to develop beyond control...

[yehzhaofeng]

My cousin currently studies in France, maybe she might have experienced something, I'll ask her later.

[ChiangAP]

One of my daughters experienced it from a well dressed (presumably) Japanese young lady. The excuse was:; "we are not allowed to buy more than a certain amount".

She obliged and was duly refunded. She never suspected it was black market of sort. It was the first time she went to a Louis Vutton shop.

[Minty]

LV doesn't like East Asians because of the huge black market copying their products existing in East Asia. Some LV shops simply refuse to sell things to East Asians.

I went to LV once to buy something for my brother, my mother and my husband were there too; because we are from Australia they didn't bother us, but not very friendly.

[fcharton]

LV doesn't like East Asians because of the huge black market copying their products existing in East Asia. Some LV shops simply refuse to sell things to East Asians.

I went to LV once to buy something for my brother, my mother and my husband were there too; because we are from Australia they didn't bother us, but not very friendly.

I don't think the existence of a black market is the problem. In fact, one of the largest producer of copies is Italy... Besides, Vuitton (and their parent holder, LVMH) certainly know that they owe a large part of their revenues to East Asia (Japan, Taiwan and Singapore, but also China in the recent years), so I would be surprised if they refused to sell to asians...

On the other hand, there is something quite typical to France (and the parisian luxury market in particular): waiters tend to be cold with clients (and sometime downright obnoxious). This is not specifically directed towards Asians, we french get it as well... Yes, this is snubbery, no I don't like it (but then, I don't care, I don't think I would ever offer a LV thing to my significant other, too "showy" for me), but, like it or not, I suspect that is part of the whole image of French luxury... And yes, polite asians often fall victim to this bad attitude

Francois

[snowybeagle]

From personal experience, the service from LV @ Paris was impeccable, though a little unusual.

Customers are free to look around but we're supposed to wait until a staff comes to attend to us instead of us calling for their attention.

Apparently, they're supposed to have a discreet system of tracking the order of arrival and a first-come first-serve basis with their limited number of sales staff.

Once it's our turn, the charming gentleman was at our total personal service until the end.

I saw the same applied to all other customers too, though I do wonder how cebebrities would be treated ...

LV @ Singapore is slightly more relaxed, but only just.

[Liang Jieming]

We found the service to be... well... courteous but aloof. In fact my baobei got a bit pissed at the sales guy because firstly he was pretty good looking, but kept glancing over to the side, as well as finding excuses to go over to the customer next to us who was a pretty blonde.

After paying for the first bag, the backroom screwed up and brought out a different bag. We suspect the sales guy was the one who made the error and not the backroom since he was always soooo distracted. Because she was pissed at this first guy serving us, we dumped him after purchasing the bag and went to another sales lady for the second item. This lady was very professional but again, very aloof. You could she that her smiles were insincere and it almost seemed like it pained her to smile just that little bit more. Anyway, again the backroom somehow screwed up and took almost 1/2 hour to bring out our second item which was a wallet. The sales lady started getting a little bit warmer, smiling apologetically and serving us drinks.

Like SB says, strange service.

Edited by Liang Jieming, 19 June 2006 - 09:56 PM.

[jlaporte]

Like SB says, strange service.

Serves you right for choosing flashy Louis Vuitton instead of more patrician Hermès.

Everybody knows that French are po-faced. Aloofness must be part of a certain French education (at least as class conscious, if not more, than the Brits) but there is no bad feeling involved, only respect. It is something you learn from the craddle and find it impossible to get rid after: "never address first to a person above you" "never talk to a waiter except to give him instruction", "never condescend to ordinary people" etc.

It used to be the same in UK's public schools (upper-middle class upward) not so long ago, but they must have forgotten.

I can't help being shocked in my English family when they talk to waiters as if they were personnnal friends, and even more shocked in the US when undiscreet shop attendants bombard us with such empty sentence as "How are you doing today?". Hell! we haven't been presented.

Chinese who also have ancient traditions should understand what it feels like to be French in this Disneyworld.

[jlaporte]

In fact my baobei got a bit pissed at the sales guy because firstly he was pretty good looking, but kept glancing over to the side, as well as finding excuses to go over to the customer next to us who was a pretty blonde.

This, I agree, is an unforgivable faute de goût. Your baobei should have nothing to fear from a pretty blonde.

[fcharton]

Serves you right for choosing flashy Louis Vuitton instead of more patrician Hermès.

Everybody knows that French are po-faced. Aloofness must be part of a certain French education (at least as class conscious, if not more, than the Brits) but there is no bad feeling involved, only respect. It is something you learn from the craddle and find it impossible to get rid after: "never address first to a person above you" "never talk to a waiter except to give him instruction", "never condescend to ordinary people" etc.

There is also something specific to waiters. For many french, good waiting is supposed to be almost invisible, they are at your call, but they are not supposed to come to you. Like jlaporte, I usually feel uneasy in restaurants abroad when there is a swarm of waiters caring after you and interrupting all the time to see if everything is ok, or ask you what you want... As jlaporte says, this is purely cultural.

Another, less nice, trait has to do with luxury, posh restaurants and cafes, etc... I am not sure it is specific to France. People who work there (even in the lowest positions) are trained to behave as if they were the owners of the brand, which makes some of them quite unnerving.

Francois