Chanel implements new price hike in South Korea

Chanel is reportedly implementing another round of price hikes for the products being sold in its store outlets in South Korea. The luxury fashion brand was said to have raised the prices of its jewelry items, bags, and clothing pieces.

As of Wednesday, Nov. 2, Chanel Korea’s prices were raised by five percent up to 12%. The company cited the global price equity as the main reason for its decision. It was noted that this is the brand’s fourth price increase this year alone. Based on estimation, the cost of the exclusive Chanel bags shot up to 84% since its numbers started going up in 2019 and 2021 based on the records of Statistics Korea.

According to The Korea Herald, with the latest price increase, the Chanel Mini Flap Bag is now worth KRW6.37 million or about $4,490 after a seven percent hike. The large version of this same bag model is now priced at KRW14.2 million from KRW13.35 million after a six percent increase.

For the accessories, Chanel imposed a seven to eight percent increase. A classic Chanel wallet on chain is now KRW4.32 million when it was only KRW3.99 million before the 8.3% price augmentation.

The Korean unit of the French luxury fashion house that was founded by Coco Chanel in 1910 already raised the prices in January, March, and August, so this fourth hike may possibly be met with complaints from customers once again.

In fact, during the second price increase in March, customers shunned the brand for the new price tags. More and more Korean customers were reported to be turning away from Chanel because of the series of hikes in the last two years. As a result, they have stopped coming to the brand’s stores and said the price hikes were ridiculous.

“We have introduced the raise in our stores starting today as per the worldwide company price policy, inaugurated in 2015,” an official of Chanel explained the latest change in prices. “It was to ensure fairness between customers around the globe and to reduce price differences between regions.”

Meanwhile, it was observed that Chanel products in South Korea are slightly more expensive compared to other nations such as the U.K. and the U.S.

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