Last month, I destroyed my favorite (and only) pair black dress shoes by not using a shoe bag. My luggage scratched and nearly wore through the leather uppers - they are in need of replacement. I'm not one one to pass up an opportunity to shop and immediately started looking around for an appropriate pair of replacements. After falling in love with chukkas at Colette and brogues at Church's, I settled on a pair of sensible (but not too sensible) brogues within my budget. I found the shoes at one of Paris' most famed department stores, which shall remain nameless because I'm working on a project for them.
Yesterday, I decided to pick up the shoes. I heard of a 10% discount at the store for non-EU shoppers who present a passport and coupon. Along with the 10% coupon, there's a 12% tax rebate for purchases over 175€. After getting home from school, I found the coupon on the store's website, darted off to the copy store to print it up and headed to the store with my passport to buy the shoes. I tried on several pairs of shoes, which confirmed I liked the brogues best. With wedding season and potential job interviews coming up, I needed the shoes and was ready to purchase. I indicated as much to the salesman and presented my coupon.
It turns out I couldn't use the coupon – he pointed to the fine print, which pointed out that "red-dot" stores don't honor discounts or promotions. This was odd, since I was in the flagship store for the brand – how could a coupon for the store exist when you couldn't use it at the main store. What I didn't realize was this was a multi-brand boutique within the larger store... a "shop-in-shop." Unlike American stores, it's typical for French department stores to be mostly filled by concessionaires, whose employees, inventory and service policies are wholly separate from the larger store. However the separation is unclear to customers. Not only would I not be able to use the discount, but I couldn't even take the shoes to another register or section of the store, where I wanted to pick up some bed linens. This seemed like an odd arrangement for a department store aiming to bill themselves as the new capitol of luxury in Paris. Frustrated and a bit confused, I left without making a purchase.
This is a perfect example of the "difficult discount." You've seen these a million times... a seemingly generous offer designed to drive traffic into a store, which comes with heavy caveats. These are acceptable at mass retailers and airlines, where customers expect to jump through hoops for a good deal. However, they're less palatable in the luxury sector because expectations exceed the experience. In all likelihood if the coupon never existed, I would have made the purchase. However, the experience became so uncomfortable and confusing because of the discount that I backed off. I left wondering why the department store wasn't able to get all their lessees on board with a promotion that drove traffic for all brands.
My guess is the store would be better off not offering any discount and present a more consistent identity than annoy customers with fine print, but perhaps the annoying coupon is a more significant source of revenue than I give it credit.
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