Longer than usual queues also formed at Chanel stores in China as people discussed pending price increases, social media posts showed.
Chanel later confirmed that it was increasing prices of handbags and some small leather goods worldwide. It said the increases ranged between 5 per cent and 17 per cent in euros, which reflected a rise in some raw material prices.
“The price adjustments only regard Chanel’s iconic handbags, 11.12 and 2.55, as well as Boy, Gabrielle, Chanel 19 bags, and certain small leather goods,” it said in a statement responding to a Reuters query.
Chanel, Louis Vuitton raise handbag prices. Will other brands follow?
“These adjustments are made while ensuring that we avoid excessive price differentials between countries, in line with our commitments regarding price harmonisation.”
In Seoul, Lee Ji-yeon, 54, said she arrived at about 7.30am and her future son-in-law was at another department store to buy a Chanel bag for her daughter as a present for their wedding, which the virus had pushed to next year from November.
“We’ve been to the Chanel store several times before and agonised whether to buy it or not. But since the prices are going to increase, we decided to buy it now,” Lee said.
Many South Koreans gift luxury bags for weddings, including a man in the queue who also said his wedding had been postponed.
The queue formed just as more than 100 new Covid-19 cases linked to nightclubs in Seoul prompted fears of another wave of infections in a country held up as a coronavirus mitigation success story.
Chanel said it had put in place queue management measures to minimise the formation of long queues at store entrances.
In these challenging times for our manufacturers and suppliers, it is essential for Chanel to continue to support them in the best possible way
A representative for the company in Seoul said the firm had raised prices in its French home market on Monday and that other markets would follow.
“In these challenging times for our manufacturers and suppliers, it is essential for Chanel to continue to support them in the best possible way,” the Paris-based firm said.
The Lotte Department Store said luxury goods sales jumped 30 per cent from May 1 to May 10 compared with a year earlier, outperforming overall sales.
“Luxury goods posted unusually high growth in sales compared to other products,” said spokesman Moon Ho-ik. “There are two or three times more people than normal waiting in line.”
Moon attributed the spike to pent-up demand from people who had stayed at home to avoid the virus, as well as from those who would usually buy luxury goods abroad where they can be cheaper, but who have been unable to travel during the pandemic.
South Korea is the world’s eighth-biggest luxury goods market, according to researcher Euromonitor. The country has recorded almost 11,000 cases of Covid-19 and more than 250 deaths.
