For the very refined French customer audience, the most prestigious handbags are Chanel and Hermès. But the third wheel is the “little” Tod’s, which gives giants like Louis Vuitton and Dior a run for their money. With the collaboration of Promise Consulting, Bernstein interviewed 309 French consumers (and analysed 4,720 total answers). Thus, they checked which bag models they know (awareness), which ones they would buy (desirability), and which ones they aspire to have (exclusivity). The result is in the report “Winners and losers in the handbag competition”. It is easy to guess that, adding up the three criteria, in first place is Hermès Birkin. And that, from second to fourth place, are Chanel models. Much more difficult to predict Tod’s at the top and beating, in some cases, the French giants. Here are the details of the rankings.
Ranking of the most prestigious handbags by model
The sum of the indices of awareness, desirability and exclusivity generates an overall ranking led by Hermès Birkin. It is followed by Chanel’s Classic Flap bag and, from the same label, the Flap model with chains, and the Boy bag. Louis Vuitton takes three places in the top ten. According to Bernstein, the ranking is dominated by the “usual suspects”.
Brand strength
Chanel beats Hermès 100 to 72. In third place comes Tod’s, ahead of another surprise, OTB-Diesel group, held back by its low score in awareness. But, like Tod’s, the group from Veneto scored the highest in desirability and exclusivity. Gucci and Prada are at the bottom of the ranking.
The reputation
Chanel ranks first in reputation: around 30% of the panel recognises its bags. It precedes Dior, Louis Vuitton and Hermès. For desirability, Tod’s would be in first place but, as not enough models were examined, the researchers consider Chanel to be at the top, followed by Hermès. Also “disqualified” would be OTB and Mulberry, which would be placed between the two French. In perceived exclusivity as well, for the same reason as above, Tod’s would be in first place but is not taken into account. Chanel and Hermès are equal leaders. They are “one step ahead of Louis Vuitton and Dior, and two steps ahead of the Kering brands”, the study points out.
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