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The stolid approach has paid off in the pandemic. Sales will probably drop this year because of store and factory closures in the spring. But Hermes looks in better shape than its competitors, says Luca Solca of Bernstein, a broker. It is less reliant than they are on Asian tourists shopping in Paris or New York. It makes most of its wares itself, so does not need to bail out third-party suppliers. Demand wobbles are less of a problem given those long waiting lists. And if well-heeled consumers are to spend in a recession, they favour timeless brands.
這種固執的做派在疫情期間得到了回報。由于春季商店和工廠的關閉，今年的銷售額可能會下降。但經紀公司伯恩斯坦的盧卡•索爾卡表示，愛馬仕的狀況看起來比競爭對手要好。愛馬仕對那些在巴黎或紐約購物的亞洲游客的依賴程度更低。它的大部分商品都是自己生產的，因此不需要救濟第三方供應商。考慮到長長的等待購買名單，需求波動也不是什么問題了。如果富裕的消費者們要在經濟衰退中消費，他們往往青睞永恒的品牌。
For success to endure, Hermes heirs may require one more thing. The company is a digital laggard. A mere 2 to 3% of its sales last year came from its website, half its rivals’ share. Its Instagram account— a measure of a brand’s buzziness—has just 10m followers, compared with 41m for Chanel or Gucci. It lacks younger consumers who inject brands with vitality; according to Citigroup, a bank, only a quarter of sales are to Gen-Zs or millennials (the oldest of whom are about to turn 40).
要想獲得持久的成功，愛馬仕的繼承人們可能還需要做一件事。愛馬仕在數字技術方面相對落后。去年，愛馬仕僅有2-3%的銷售額來自網站，是競爭對手的一半。它的Instagram賬戶（用于衡量品牌熱度）只有1000萬粉絲，相比之下香奈兒或古馳都有4100萬粉絲。愛馬仕缺少為品牌注入活力的年輕消費者。根據花旗集團的數據，愛馬仕只有四分之一的銷售額來自95后或千禧一代（其中年齡最大的人即將滿40歲）。
Mr Dumas is alive to this. Hermes has started to branch out into cosmetics, offering aspiring shoppers a cheaper entry point than Birkins (or skateboards). It has invested in a Chinese venture, Shang Xia, that may be useful if consumers in China—big buyers of luxury goods—start coveting local baubles instead of French ones.
杜馬斯對此有所察覺。愛馬仕已經開始進軍化妝品領域，為有所渴求的消費者提供比鉑金包（或陶瓷滑板）更便宜的入門產品。它投資了一家名為“上下”的中國企業，如果中國的奢侈品大買家開始垂涎本地小玩意而不是法國貨，這筆投資可能會派上用場。
Such moves are not so different from Mr Arnault’s. He might have executed the same savvy strategy at Hermes; LVMH executives still speak of the “brand that got away” with reverence. But the Hermes clan can draw satisfaction from the fact that their investment in the family firm has yielded returns of over 400% since 2010— even juicier than if they had traded their stakes for LVMH shares.
這樣的舉動與阿爾諾的做法沒有太大差別。他可能也會在愛馬仕采取同樣的精明策略；LVMH的高管們仍然心懷崇敬地談論這個“逃脫的品牌”。但是愛馬仕家族還是心滿意足，因為自2010年以來，他們對家族企業的投資回報率超過400%。這甚至比他們用所持股份換取LVMH股份的收益還要高。
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