xxxx

While some may find Coach handbags to be affordable due to quality and the bag being a fashion staple, I don’t think $350 is a reasonable price for a handbag that I will likely carry for a year or so then let it fall to the wayside like all the other handbags I pick up. Well, after a meeting the handbag maker decided to launch a new line of bags deemed the “Poppy Line” that will be less expensive and after a year of design, the purse “priced to fit the times” without damaging the image that Coach has worked so hard to burn into the minds of consumers will be released. The average price? $260… Which is still expensive to me, but it is about 20% less than Coach handbags now.

The line is expected to come out in late June.

Coach seems to be following the trend of designers that have to find a way to appeal to customers even with high-priced items. J. Crew sells a basic ballet flat shoe for $20 less than it once did, down from $118 to $98. The price of a Vera Wang wedding dress has fallen to $3,800 on average from $5,500 last year on average. These companies have done something that Coach is hoping to do with the Poppy line; be able to appeal to women who can afford the bags without damaging the image of the company or having the handbags seem “cheap”.

The one thing that Coach has on its side when facing the recession, slipping profits, and decreasing margins is its research and development departments. Coach has always been able to be following trends through customer surveys. It has always been able to tell what customers want from a handbag and you can tell in the fashions of the bags that they do a very good job in creating bags that customers want…if nothing else, by simply looking at all the “replica” bags that are out there.

This is a company that is looking to bring its revenues back up to the 22% increase it in its last fiscal year ended June 2008. Coach will come out of the recession with a few scratches and maybe a bruise or two, but the economy will eventually pick up and once again, women will buy handbags that are perhaps a little overpriced for my tastes.

Jeremy

View all posts by Jeremy
Jeremys website