Luxury brand Louis Vuitton is renowned for its covetable offerings that range from premium bags and fashion to watches, shoes, and accessories. However, the brand is also known for never offering discounts on its products for customers; a policy that does not apply to Louis Vuitton employees.
Employees of Louis Vuitton do get a discount on Louis Vuitton products, though the discount amount varies depending on a variety of factors such as the condition of the product, seasonal merchandise, and discount variations by country. There is also often a cap on how much employees can spend when purchasing discounted products.
There’s no getting away from the fact that Louis Vuitton products are expensive. For the brand’s employees, however, the potential to purchase Louis Vuitton products at discounted prices is an appealing employee perk that brings these luxurious items closer within reach.
What discounts are available?
Louis Vuitton offers a variety of discounts to its employees. These discounts can be affected depending on whether the item is new or damaged, as well as whether it’s a seasonal clearance item or not.
In general, new items bought within stores are for individual use only and cannot be bought as gifts for friends or family. Products can be purchased as gifts for others in larger internal clearance sales for employees.
Employees have reported being entitled to discounts of 30% off new items in American Louis Vuitton stores. Those discounts can increase however on shop display items or damaged items that have been returned by customers and which are available for discounted sale to employees.
Louis Vuitton does not sell products to customers if those items are not in perfect condition. This offers the potential for employees to score deals on a wide variety of items, including rare pieces.
Due to the nature of selling imperfect stock and continuous variations in available pieces, there is no guarantee that employees will get the particular piece they are after. However, with a wide range of pieces potentially coming up for sale, employees who are quick off the mark may score a bargain.
Significant discounts of between 70% to 90% off are also sometimes available to employees if the items being sold are part of internal clearance sales on seasonal items. These seasonal items include shoes and Ready-to-Wear pieces.
Louis Vuitton has increased its seasonal offerings over the past few years, which increases the risk that excess stock may be left over when the season draws to a close. Internal employee sales have been a key way for Louis Vuitton to get rid of excess stock, though this situation has changed for stores based in France.
Discount differences in France
While large clearance sales may offer great deals for Louis Vuitton employees outside of France, generous discounts are no longer an option for employees within France. French tax authorities have stated that greatly discounted costs for luxury products can be considered as a taxable benefit.
Louis Vuitton’s employees in France will no longer be able to benefit from discounts of up to 90% off clearance items and seasonal products that haven’t been sold. Instead, the discounts will be capped at 75%, which could see Louis Vuitton experiencing difficulties clearing excess stock through internal sales in France.
Luxury brands have previously been known to destroy excess merchandise through methods such as burying it in landfills or burning it, as a means of retaining the brands’ exclusivity by avoiding discounted merchandise available to the public or counterfeiters. France has however moved to ban this practice, leaving luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton needing to find alternative ways to deal with excess stock.
The discount changes in France may perturb employees within Louis Vuitton’s French stores. However, they could end up benefiting Louis Vuitton employees outside of France.
Too much excess stock in France could result in Louis Vuitton sending it to other countries where employees can still receive large discounts. A move many employees would no doubt welcome.
The deal with discounts
Discounts for Louis Vuitton employees are not set in stone. Many variables can affect them, from the condition of the item to the seasonal relevance of products and the potential amount of excess stock.
Discounts even vary from country to country, with employees in France more restricted in their available discounts than say their American counterparts. Potential changes in government policy may yet affect discount policies in other countries as they have in France.