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Loving all stylish and wonderful things in life, fashion and interiors. I am English but living my life in the fabulous city of Melbourne in Australia. Welcome and please read on.... (contact me at sjstubbs19@gmail.com)

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Hermes, please explain this pricing policy......

Mr SE has just returned from another trip to Europe (Switzerland, Germany, Dublin and a quick stayover in London) and asked me if I would like anything particular..... Well, I was getting a little low (nearly out of) my favourite fragrance - Hermes Rose Ikebana which I have talked about before on the blog - see HERE.

However, I am very much for VFM in this life .... Value For Money is the name of the game and I just wanted to check where the best place would be for Mr SE to pick up said perfume. So, off I went to the website and decided that I would rather like to try two other 'flavours' in the Hermessence range - the new(ish) Iris Ukiyoe and also the Poivre Samarcande (which is beautiful 'layered' with my favourite Rose Ikebana....) Hermes do a 'Gift Set' where you can choose 4 of the Hermessence fragrances so I picked 2 of the Rose Ikebana and one each of the other two so I could try them as well....



Now, this story is going somewhere (good, I hear you sigh).... Meanwhile above and below show the photographs of the beautifully packaged gifts set...







Each little bottle has its own drawstring bag...





And above here they are out of their packages.




OK so guess where they were bought in the end ? IN AUSTRALIA!


In England they would have been a little more expensive than here - yes, I know I was really surprised. However, if you live in USA you are the winners - this same set above a whole LOT (AUD$65) LESS than it does here.


Why Hermes, can you please explain this???




However, if you want to buy a large bottle of any of the above it would cost far MORE in Australia - in UK and USA it's about the same price. I just don't understand it.




p.s. My nail polish - see post before last is still perfect - no chips at all. I am impressed.







14 comments:

  1. S
    It's so confusing, I've given up trying to understand.

    I do love your perfumes though. The packaging!

    SSG xxx

    Sydney Shop Girl blog

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  2. It is amazing the price differences you can find with a bit of online investigation.

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  3. I am always fascinated by your thoughtful and clever husband when he travels...his taste is to be applauded!

    Hope that you are enjoying the Hermes!

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  4. i just moved to sydney in january and am returning to the states to visit for the Christmas holidays. i am trying my hardest not to purchase any brand name clothing items because of the incredible markup until then... in the mean time i order from the US and have items shipped over

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  5. It drives me nuts, here in the UK we seem to pay some of the highest prices, usually on a par with dollars. If I order from the US the customs charges make it uneconomic.

    Your perfume is beautifully packaged.

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  6. Hi Semi Hermes Expat!! ha ha.
    You are quite the Hermes guru!
    Stunning packaging and well deserved!
    Worldwide prices on so many things are insane!
    It really does pay to do your research, doesn't it!

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  7. what a beautiful gift!

    i don't understand pricing anywhere sarah. it's crazy and if you don't play detective you can easily be ripped off.

    more points for the mr.

    xo
    janet

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  8. I'm so envious of your lovely set of parfums that I can't even rise to the mathematics of the price difference. Lucky you.

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  9. Why do I not know these scents?

    They sound delicious.

    I will check them out next time I go shopping.

    You have made them sound so reasonable here in the States, I would be foolish not to have a sniff.

    V. desirable.

    xo Jane

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  10. We are so ripped off in this country. It is Criminal.x

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  11. I have a perfume store and can understand the confusion with pricing for perfumes in this case. I am sure that most people understand that Australia whilst a large country has a small population, America is huge, they work on smaller margins because they have greater turnover, their cost of sales are lower because the wages and overheads are lower. Also we pay the highest costs for freight due to our geographic location and unfortunately this has to passed onto the consumer. Hermes don't bring in their fragrances directly they have a distributor to hold their stock and thus adds an additional cost. There are many other hidden costs but try to understand that the retailer is not ripping anyone off, they are just trying to make a living like anyone else.

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  12. Sarah, they all look so lovely I think I would pay any price for them! I don't think you can go wrong with any of their fragrances. Do you like them?

    We recently searched out the best price for an iPad...suppose to be similar price worldwide, not so.
    Hong Kong was the best...nice that Mr. H and Mr. SE travel enough to let us pick up things here and there. :)

    Jeanne xxx

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  13. Do not understand. Australia is actually cheap for something for once???

    I love the sound of Rose Ikebana. Is it beautifully rosy? Although I likely do not need more perfume right now...

    I too am a fan of VFM and try to practice it whenever possible.

    K xx

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  14. despite the pricing policy
    I love Hermes and like your blog
    greetings from Italy

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